'Momentous' - The new French citizens voting for the first time
Millions of people headed to polling stations across France to vote in the first round of the presidential election on Sunday. Among them are thousands of new French citizens who took nationality in the last four years. We spoke to some of them prior to polling day.
Only French citizens can vote in presidential elections in France, but the country has relatively generous rules about acquiring French nationality, either through residency or through voting, and in the last four years many readers of The Local have done just that.
READ ALSO Am I eligible for French citizenship?
Throughout the day, many social media users took to the internet to express their joy at being able to cast their vote for the very first time.
On such person, Kat Borlongan, tweeted: "I arrived in France in 2002 as an immigrant from the Philippines. It has been nearly two decades that I have waited for the day when finally, my voice counts at presidential elections. Message from a new citizen: Go and vote today."
Je suis arrivée en France en 2003 en tant qu’immigrée philippine. Ça fait presque 2 décennies que j’attends ce jour où—enfin—ma voix compte aux élections présidentielles.
Message d’une nouvelle citoyenne: Allez voter aujourd’hui 🗳🇫🇷 #electionspresidentielles2022 pic.twitter.com/nNvkbRWWe7
— Kat Borlongan (@katborlongan) April 10, 2022
Erin Douglas, meanwhile, likened the uttering of à voté (have voted), which is what officials traditionally declare after someone votes in France, to celebrating a "democratic touchdown".
First time voting in France! Every time someone drops their ballot in, they yell out “A Voté!” like you just scored a democratic touchdown pic.twitter.com/l30mqhbqeB
— Erin Douglas 🇺🇸🇫🇷 (@erin__douglas) April 10, 2022
Alex Taylor, who also voted in his first French presidential election said he felt "emotional".
"The little English boy that learned to conjugate his French verbs never imagined that one day, someone you say to him, a French citizen... à voté!"
Le petit garçon anglais qui apprenait à conjuguer ses verbes français n'imaginait pas qu'un jour on lui dirait - à lui, citoyen français (et pas peu ému ❤🇲🇫) ...
"... a voté !" pic.twitter.com/hCORSlOJJd
— Alex Taylor (@AlexTaylorNews) April 10, 2022
Haxie Meyers-Belkin, a journalist with France 24, described voting for the first time as "momentous".
🗳 J’ai voté! My first time voting as a French citizen, and it felt pretty momentous. 🇫🇷
Excited to digest it all alongside @StuartNorval + a great lineup of guests on @France24_en for our special election coverage from 6h Paris time tomorrow! #presidentielles2022 ##F24 pic.twitter.com/QmEjnlozC2
— Haxie Meyers-Belkin (@haxieMB) April 10, 2022
In the weeks leading up to the election, we asked many of our readers how it felt to head to be able to vote in French elections for the first time. All of the new citizens who responded told us that they intend to vote, and many had very personal reasons for doing so.
Kathleen Gray, who has lived in Paris since 1984, told us that being denied the right to vote in 2016’s Brexit referendum prompted her decision to apply for French citizenship, and regain her right to a say in her chosen country’s politics.
“As soon as the Brexit referendum was announced in 2015, I submitted my application for French citizenship as I was outraged that UK nationals resident in the EU had no say in a decision that could deny us our EU citizenship,” she said.
“The denial of our right to vote in the referendum also triggered my desire to acquire full voting rights in France by obtaining French nationality.
“A French passport protects my EU citizenship, my right to live here, and the right to vote in presidential and legislative elections. I feel sorry for the younger generation of Brits who have lost the right to free movement and for small companies that are facing huge obstacles to exporting goods to the EU.”
Another long-term French resident, Jill Brown, said: “It will be great to finally have a say in electing the next president of France having lived here for over 50 years, and seen presidents come and go from De Gaulle to Macron!”
And Zoe de Crecy said: “It’s a great time to have gained French nationality because there is so much happening. It’s exciting to know I will have a say in the way things can move forwards for future generations.”
The UK’s departure from the European Union was a key driver for many respondents to apply for French citizenship.
READ ALSO Why do French elections normally have two rounds?
Timo Elliott voiced the views of a number of respondents: “I wasn't able to vote against Brexit because of the 15-year limit. I woke up stunned the day after the referendum and immediately started the procedure to become French.”
And he linked his voting rights to politics in the UK. “Now that I'm a citizen, I feel it's my patriotic duty to vote to help make sure France avoids the anti-immigrant xenophobia that lead to such a catastrophic result.”
As Lynda Bellaiche, who has a property in Paris but lives most of the year in Gard, said: “I have felt European for a long time now, but I must admit I feel very proud to have the right to vote here. This will be the first time in my 75 years that I will vote for a country leader.
The right to vote, she said, made her feel ‘more French’.
“When I left the UK in 1968, we had no rights to vote abroad, the right to vote from abroad for 15 years came into being in the Eighties. It is more logical anyway to vote in the country in which one lives and obviously makes us ‘more French’.”
She said that she always went along to the polling station with her husband when he went to vote, and encouraged their children to use their ballots at every opportunity.
READ ALSO 10 phrases you will definitely hear during the French presidential election
“The longer I lived here, the more I wanted to vote,” she said. “Many years back, pre internet days, I collected signatures for the petitions which finally gave the right to us Brits in Europe to vote at the European and then the municipal elections.
“Now I can take part in national elections, I feel finally equal to my French friends and family. And when people, hearing my accent, ask my nationality now I always say I am British and French.
“The truth is, in my heart I will never be 100 percent French and I am definitely not 100 percent British anymore. It was very comfortable for me being British and part of Europe.
“Apart from giving rights of residence, which I didn’t really think about before as it was pretty easy renewing my carte de sejour, the biggest change honestly, when taking French nationality, is the right to vote. I was very happy to participate in the regional elections last year, which was a first.”
Robin Ellis agrees, admitting that ‘I'll never be French’, but saying the right carried a feeling of being “more legitimate, perhaps - less of a parvenu/arriviste. It is a very good feeling. And there is the added thrill of being, once again, ‘European’.”
Linda Garmy said of the right to vote that citizenship has bestowed: “I feel more fully integrated into French society. I take the right to vote very seriously.”
READ ALSO What are the rules for French presidential candidates appearing on TV?
Comments (2)
See Also
Only French citizens can vote in presidential elections in France, but the country has relatively generous rules about acquiring French nationality, either through residency or through voting, and in the last four years many readers of The Local have done just that.
READ ALSO Am I eligible for French citizenship?
Throughout the day, many social media users took to the internet to express their joy at being able to cast their vote for the very first time.
On such person, Kat Borlongan, tweeted: "I arrived in France in 2002 as an immigrant from the Philippines. It has been nearly two decades that I have waited for the day when finally, my voice counts at presidential elections. Message from a new citizen: Go and vote today."
Je suis arrivée en France en 2003 en tant qu’immigrée philippine. Ça fait presque 2 décennies que j’attends ce jour où—enfin—ma voix compte aux élections présidentielles.
— Kat Borlongan (@katborlongan) April 10, 2022
Message d’une nouvelle citoyenne: Allez voter aujourd’hui 🗳🇫🇷 #electionspresidentielles2022 pic.twitter.com/nNvkbRWWe7
Erin Douglas, meanwhile, likened the uttering of à voté (have voted), which is what officials traditionally declare after someone votes in France, to celebrating a "democratic touchdown".
First time voting in France! Every time someone drops their ballot in, they yell out “A Voté!” like you just scored a democratic touchdown pic.twitter.com/l30mqhbqeB
— Erin Douglas 🇺🇸🇫🇷 (@erin__douglas) April 10, 2022
Alex Taylor, who also voted in his first French presidential election said he felt "emotional".
"The little English boy that learned to conjugate his French verbs never imagined that one day, someone you say to him, a French citizen... à voté!"
Le petit garçon anglais qui apprenait à conjuguer ses verbes français n'imaginait pas qu'un jour on lui dirait - à lui, citoyen français (et pas peu ému ❤🇲🇫) ...
— Alex Taylor (@AlexTaylorNews) April 10, 2022
"... a voté !" pic.twitter.com/hCORSlOJJd
Haxie Meyers-Belkin, a journalist with France 24, described voting for the first time as "momentous".
🗳 J’ai voté! My first time voting as a French citizen, and it felt pretty momentous. 🇫🇷
— Haxie Meyers-Belkin (@haxieMB) April 10, 2022
Excited to digest it all alongside @StuartNorval + a great lineup of guests on @France24_en for our special election coverage from 6h Paris time tomorrow! #presidentielles2022 ##F24 pic.twitter.com/QmEjnlozC2
In the weeks leading up to the election, we asked many of our readers how it felt to head to be able to vote in French elections for the first time. All of the new citizens who responded told us that they intend to vote, and many had very personal reasons for doing so.
Kathleen Gray, who has lived in Paris since 1984, told us that being denied the right to vote in 2016’s Brexit referendum prompted her decision to apply for French citizenship, and regain her right to a say in her chosen country’s politics.
“As soon as the Brexit referendum was announced in 2015, I submitted my application for French citizenship as I was outraged that UK nationals resident in the EU had no say in a decision that could deny us our EU citizenship,” she said.
“The denial of our right to vote in the referendum also triggered my desire to acquire full voting rights in France by obtaining French nationality.
“A French passport protects my EU citizenship, my right to live here, and the right to vote in presidential and legislative elections. I feel sorry for the younger generation of Brits who have lost the right to free movement and for small companies that are facing huge obstacles to exporting goods to the EU.”
Another long-term French resident, Jill Brown, said: “It will be great to finally have a say in electing the next president of France having lived here for over 50 years, and seen presidents come and go from De Gaulle to Macron!”
And Zoe de Crecy said: “It’s a great time to have gained French nationality because there is so much happening. It’s exciting to know I will have a say in the way things can move forwards for future generations.”
The UK’s departure from the European Union was a key driver for many respondents to apply for French citizenship.
READ ALSO Why do French elections normally have two rounds?
Timo Elliott voiced the views of a number of respondents: “I wasn't able to vote against Brexit because of the 15-year limit. I woke up stunned the day after the referendum and immediately started the procedure to become French.”
And he linked his voting rights to politics in the UK. “Now that I'm a citizen, I feel it's my patriotic duty to vote to help make sure France avoids the anti-immigrant xenophobia that lead to such a catastrophic result.”
As Lynda Bellaiche, who has a property in Paris but lives most of the year in Gard, said: “I have felt European for a long time now, but I must admit I feel very proud to have the right to vote here. This will be the first time in my 75 years that I will vote for a country leader.
The right to vote, she said, made her feel ‘more French’.
“When I left the UK in 1968, we had no rights to vote abroad, the right to vote from abroad for 15 years came into being in the Eighties. It is more logical anyway to vote in the country in which one lives and obviously makes us ‘more French’.”
She said that she always went along to the polling station with her husband when he went to vote, and encouraged their children to use their ballots at every opportunity.
READ ALSO 10 phrases you will definitely hear during the French presidential election
“The longer I lived here, the more I wanted to vote,” she said. “Many years back, pre internet days, I collected signatures for the petitions which finally gave the right to us Brits in Europe to vote at the European and then the municipal elections.
“Now I can take part in national elections, I feel finally equal to my French friends and family. And when people, hearing my accent, ask my nationality now I always say I am British and French.
“The truth is, in my heart I will never be 100 percent French and I am definitely not 100 percent British anymore. It was very comfortable for me being British and part of Europe.
“Apart from giving rights of residence, which I didn’t really think about before as it was pretty easy renewing my carte de sejour, the biggest change honestly, when taking French nationality, is the right to vote. I was very happy to participate in the regional elections last year, which was a first.”
Robin Ellis agrees, admitting that ‘I'll never be French’, but saying the right carried a feeling of being “more legitimate, perhaps - less of a parvenu/arriviste. It is a very good feeling. And there is the added thrill of being, once again, ‘European’.”
Linda Garmy said of the right to vote that citizenship has bestowed: “I feel more fully integrated into French society. I take the right to vote very seriously.”
READ ALSO What are the rules for French presidential candidates appearing on TV?
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.