The residents of France's working-class multi-ethnic areas abstained from the first-round elections in greater numbers than the national average. Yet if they turn out in force in Sunday's second round vote between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen they could yet have a big say in the outcome. Though fed up with being told who to vote for, many of the inhabitants come from immigrant backgrounds and already experience everyday racism they fear will only get worse if the far-right win power. However, many are also afraid Macron's liberal economic policies will make their lives even harder. Carine Fouteau assesses the mood in areas that have been largely overlooked in the French presidential campaign.
They would be the first and most violently affected if the far-right candidate Maine Le Pen won the French presidential election on Sunday May 7th. This impact would come not just in the idea they would then have of France - to pick up an expression that President Jacques Chirac used in 2002 - but in their everyday life itself.
