With three weeks to go until the first round of the French election, The Local France team plus guest experts John Lichfield and Adam Plowright discuss abstention levels, Macron's legacy for France and which candidate would make the best drinking buddy.

The Local’s Talking France aims to make sense of France, its politics and in particular its 2022 presidential election. This week host Ben McPartland and The Local France editor Emma Pearson are joined by veteran columnist John Lichfield, plus Macron biographer and Paris-based journalist Adam Plowright.

We’re talking the latest from the campaign trail, the problems of abstention, how powerful the French military really is and why it is that so many people seem to viscerally hate Emmanuel Macron.

We’re also looking at whether a low turn out will really mean a re-elected Macron would be an ‘illegitimate’ president, as his opponents claim.

And as ever, we’ll be looking at some of the French words and phrases you need to understand the presidential campaign, and answering questions from our readers – such as, what is a vote blanc?

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