Rumours are flying round that the mainstream press and polls underestimated Marine Le Pen's popularity in the French election the way they did Trump's popularity. That Le Pen would have won were it not for the tearing of 15 million voting ballots in advance so that French law would declare them invalid and fail to count them. The National Front has complained that in several places voters received voting ballots for both candidates sent to their homes, but all the forms for Le Pen were torn. This happened in Ardèche, Allier, Savoie, Loire, Yvelines, Eure-et-Loir, and Hérault. The National Front addressed its complaints to the National Commission on Election Supervision (la Commission nationale de contrôle des élections), which replied that it would ask the Minister for the Interior to take every step to see that these facts, if they were proven, would not alter the validity of the vote count. In particular by asking voters to use the voting papers provided in the voting booths [rather than those sent to their homes]. Source: Reuters "Le FN se plaint de bulletins de Marine Le Pen déchirés," 6 May 2015.
One anonymous source estimates the number of damaged voting ballot forms therefore invalid votes submitted to be 15 million. But this source seems to assume that all torn voting forms delivered to homes were then used in the voting booths. How many were used? This 2017 Presidential election had the highest ever number - 12 per cent - of blank and void votes, i.e. votes that were handed in blank and votes that were disregarded as illegal for one reason or another. With or without formal election fraud, it is obvious that, if the mainstream press and the European Union and the government and all the major political parties had not tried to influence the French not to vote for Le Pen, she would probably have won outright and Macron would never have built up much steam. As it was, ALL the major French political parties disappeared overnight because they received so few votes. It seemed, indeed, as if many of their leaders had crossed over to Macron's party, which is more of a phenomenon than a real political party.
Here's what some people are saying in France about the election:
The numbers:
33 million votes cast (and counted). 16 million votes cast (and nullified due to damaged ballots, and claimed "forfeited protest votes".)
Votes cast to Macron: 22 million. Votes invalidated by damaged ballots (100 percent of these were LePen:) 15 million. Votes for LePen that were not invalidated by damaged ballots: 11 million. Probable actual protest votes, no more than 1 million LePen: 11 million plus 15 million is 26 million.
Possible final vote tally:
LePen: 26 million.
Macron: 22 million.
Protest: 1 million.
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