As France approaches elections, a new atlas examines voting peculiarities in overseas territories. Led by two specialists, the book highlights local issues and autonomy claims. It underscores the atypical electoral behaviors of the 2 million overseas voters.
The 'Atlas des outre-mer', published by Autrement (96 pages, 24 euros), is coordinated by Fred Constant, professor of political science at the Université des Antilles, and Jean-Christophe Gay, professor of geography at the Université Côte d’Azur. Featuring contributions from numerous experts and cartographic staging by Aurélie Boissière, the book explores the international, historical, political, socio-economic, and environmental dimensions of these territories.
The authors note that 'l’outre-mer reste une notion exogène étrangère à ceux qui en sont originaires' (overseas remains an exogenous notion foreign to its natives). Among the 49 million national voters in 2024, the 2 million overseas electors often differ from those in mainland France, as explained by Fred Constant. Local issues predominate, with the redefinition of relations with the state as backdrop, ranging from variable autonomy to outright independence.
The 2024 crises illustrate these tensions: riots over the cost of living in Martinique, insecurity and cyclone in Mayotte, independence uprising in New Caledonia. Abstention is structurally higher for general elections (presidential, European), but lower for territorial elections compared to the mainland. A common point is the majority vote for Marine Le Pen in the second round of the 2022 presidential election in the Antilles and Guyana.
However, electoral scenes remain autonomous. In Martinique in 2022, the drastic drop in Emmanuel Macron's score reflected a sanction for the management of the chlordécone scandal and the Covid-19 pandemic, rather than adhesion to Marine Le Pen's theses, the authors note. This atlas provides a pedagogical view of ultramarine political complexity ahead of the electoral period.