Politics isn't for everyone. In the remote village of Alzi on the island of Corsica, out of the 34 registered voters, 33 stayed clear of the ballot box in the second round of the French Presidential elections, reports French newspaper Libération.
In other words, 97.06% of voters abstained from the election. Village mayor Simon Venturini, told French newspaper Le Parisien that it had been a “very long day.”
In fact, locals found the candidates so unappealing that the only person to cast a vote spoiled his ballot. This made it the only municipality to fail to submit a single valid vote.
According to the mayor, some locals came to chat and hang out, but none voted. “We spent a moment of the day together even if no one voted,” Venturini stated.
Anti-French sentiment
Although a French department, Corsican independence sentiment is strong with many Corsicans notoriously anti-French. In the wake of the 2017 elections, Corsica demanded further autonomy from France.
Less than one-quarter of the island's residents voted but those that did favoured Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National party.
Corsican nationalist parties had called for a boycott of the elections and the National Liberation Front of Corsica has previously targeted French garrisons and politicians on the island. Though armed groups have agreed to end hostilities, low-level violence lingers.
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Macron is not a popular figure in Corsica. The French President had previously refused to make concessions on further autonomy to the region.
Venturini criticises what he calls Macron's “contemptuous attitude towards Corsican elected officials during his visits to the island.” However, he denied that Marine Le Pen holds any more appeal to the “people of Corsica who are not racists.”
