French-Montrealers turn out to vote in ‘historic’ election amid surge in far-right

Every ballot cast is important to French Montrealers, particularly concerning when you see what's going on in France. Voters were called to the polls after incumbent President Emmanuel Macron called a snap election following his defeat by Marine Depance National Rally. In the latest European Union elections, they have 9 candidates to choose from, with three major political groups competing Macron, centrist Block, Lipan's far right party or the leftist coalition New Popular Front. If married Lepen and Jordan Balduras win this election, it will be the first time in the history of the French Republic that the extreme right vote the election or are in power without the pressure of a foreign country which was the case in 1940. The National Rally Party is strongly anti immigration which will be an extraordinary break with all tradition of integrating children of immigrants in our citizenship through birthright citizenship. Some French living in Montreal disagree with such policies. I don't consider as an immigrant that immigrants have the problem of the of different country, even in Quebec or in France. Montreal houses the largest community of French living outside of Europe with 76,000 eligible voters. In Canada we have a lot of diversity and it's really rich and I think that's important. We keep that in France too, although many of them have lived in Canada for decades and have no intention of going back. They think it's important to have their voices heard for the future of their country of origin, for our children. Also, if you want to go back to France, to be able to choose where we want to live and in which in what kind of country we want to live. The French consulate is ready to welcome a 50% turn out. Saying that there is a lot of mobilization around this election. I hope that with these elections we're going to be able to push ideals that are maybe more against these far right. Ideals The next and final round of voting in Montreal will be held on July 6. Matilda Cerrone, Global News Montreal.