Out of the 46 millions French citizens who voted in the 2012 Presidential Election, 2.5% were expatriates. French expats are allowed to vote at the French Embassy or Consulate in their Country of Residence. Although they only represent a small fraction of the total voters and they usually don’t make an election, it is fascinating to see how results can differ from one country to another.
Analysis:
The French Election is a two-round voting system. There is a runoff election between the two highest polling candidates if there is no absolute majority after the 1st round. That makes it even more interesting to visualize, especially when looking at the votes shifts between the two rounds.
In the 2012 election, Hollande (social-democrat) and the incumbent Sarkozy (conservative) were through to the 2nd round. On the one hand, the overall results for the 2012 French Election were the following: for the 1st round, François Hollande (29%) and Nicolas Sarkozy (28%); for the 2nd round, François Hollande (52%, elected) and Nicolas Sarkozy (48%, defeated). On the other hand, the results of the Expats’ Votes were quite different: for the 1st round, Nicolas Sarkozy (38%, +10%) and François Hollande (28%, -1%); for the 2nd round, Nicolas Sarkozy (53%, +5%) and François Hollande (47%, -5%).
Fun Facts:
Only considering the Expats’ Votes, Sarkozy would have been re-elected after the two rounds with a comfortable margin of 6%. Besides, Sarkozy would have won the election right after the 1st round in Israel, Monaco, Lebanon, Singapore, Mauritius, the United Arab Emirates and the Ivory Coast. Hollande would have been directly elected after the 1st round in Algeria, Mali and the Comoros.
The Viz:
The first dashboard is a Head-To-Head Viz between Hollande and Sarkozy. It is focusing on the Voting Gap between the top two candidates after each of the two rounds (excluding blank votes). Results are showed by country and you can sort by continent as well. Roll your mouse over the graphs and maps to reveal more details. An additional feature is the Leading Candidate parameter that allows you to only display countries where one particular candidate had the lead after the 1st round, you will be able to see if there were any votes shifts after the 2nd round . The second sheet presents the results of the 1st round with all the candidates. (Note: the reason the bar charts are not always equal to 100% is due to the blank votes).
Source:
French Senate, Expatriate Division - www.expatries.senat.fr
About me: French professional and happy globe-trotter, interested in data driven investigations in the field of politics and social trends. Currently expat in London and working for a major American litigation and financial investigations consulting firm, dealing with large data sets and visualisation tools for international clients and corporations.
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