Understanding non-voting, without speaking for everyone.

A rate measures the absence of a vote. By itself, it does not explain why a person did not vote.

What the figures say

In the first round of 2022, 12,824,169 registered voters did not vote: 26.31%. The second-round rate reached 28.01%. The denominator is registered voters, not all residents. Official Interior Ministry results.

Different reasons, sometimes combined

Disagreement with candidates, distrust, a feeling that voting is pointless, lack of interest or practical obstacles can lead to the same statistical outcome. The Ipsos study of the 2022 runoff already documents these reasons. Non-voters therefore do not form a party or a single bloc of opinion.

Participation varies

A person may vote in one round and skip another. Insee distinguishes consistent voting, intermittent voting and consistent non-voting. Comparisons need the election, round, population and source. A trend does not mechanically rise every year.

What Appstention adds

Voluntary contributions for 2027, in participants’ own words. Declarations are confirmed by email; testimonies are published after moderation. This collection complements existing research. It is neither representative of all non-voters nor an election forecast.