Left-wing Popular Front alliance candidates use fresh volunteers to woo voters
Left-wing alliance candidates marched through the streets of the French capital Paris accompanied by a marching band as they handed out flyers and chatted with voters.
As the first round of a surprise snap election approaches, the New Popular Front, an alliance of the French left-wing parties, is giving all to make themselves heard in the city.
But it is in the more rural areas that they are sending, in many cases, fresh volunteers, as candidates battle not to fall too far behind the far-right National Rally party.
Jaspal De Oliveira-Gill is one of them.
"I had only new people with me, we usually pair seasoned volunteers with new ones to train them but this time, we had to do an 'express training session' and send them out," she said.
Another volunteer activist, Thibaut Pham, was not old enough to remember the year 2002 after the far-right, with Jean-Marie Le Pen, made it to the second round of the presidential elections.
Yet now he sees his heirs, Marine Le Pen, within reach of a landslide victory, Pham said "it's the ideal moment to get involved."
"First, to protect ourselves from the danger of having the National Rally, and at the same time, push a different platform, environmental values, social values, and get France moving in the right direction," the 25-year-old told The Associated Press.
During the recent European elections, which resulted in a snap election in France, more than a third of the National Rally's voters were aged between 25 and 34. And with 60% of under-35s abstained from voting.
Pham insists it's the government's fault for not listening to "voters, popular demands, and not even listen(ing) to its own MPs."
"When you hear that, it's hard to be surprised that young people don't get involved and feel a bit sad or try going down different paths, for better or worse," Pham said.
The upcoming early legislative vote is to be held on June 30 and July 7 following Macron’s decision to dissolve the National Assembly.