During the presidential campaign, “Liberation” interviewed French people who chose not to vote or no longer vote. Will they reuse their voter card in April? Today, direction Empalot district, in Toulouse, where “the young people who were born in France are not even registered and the pensioners say that they do not want to get involved in politics”.

Like every Wednesday, the associations of the citizen council of Empalot, in Toulouse, set up a stand on the small market of the old HLM district in full urban renewal on the banks of the Garonne. Between fruits and vegetables, clothes and plastic trinkets at mini-prices worthy of a Tati or a Gifi in the open air, two thermoses of mint tea and coffee allow passers-by chilled by the rising fog of the river in flood to warm up for free. Mostafa, however, stands at a distance. His cup of coffee, this Franco-Moroccan paid for it at the PMU machine (1 euro). For lack of a real bar in the neighborhood since the closure of the old shopping center slated for demolition, the distributor of the tobacconist, newspapers and scratch games serves as a meeting place for chatting.

Despite the cloves that Mostafa chews every morning to protect himself from Covid, his drink tastes bitter. At 60, this declared fan of Jaurès and Robespierre who proudly asserts himself “socialist” and “revolutionary” sees himself as “an elephant” preaching in the desert. In Empalot, he is known as the white wolf that adorns the entrance to the metro station for his taste for political discussions. A somewhat incongruous passion, in a district where nearly 80% of voters shunned the ballot boxes during the departmental and regional elections of 2021. “Young people who were born in France are not even registered and retirees say…