After French Election, Voters Are Resigned to Cost-of-Living Crisis

Celine Gallois is more careful these days about what she puts in her shopping basket. Prices at French supermarkets have jumped by nearly a third in the last couple of years, and two bags, filled mainly with basics including pasta, milk, meat and fruit, now cost her about 80 euros — the most she can afford to spend each week.

The cost to fill up the gas tank of her small car jumped to €90 a week from €60. And Ms. Gallois’s electricity bills, which President Emmanuel Macron’s government had capped during an energy crisis last year, shot up again last month after the subsidy ended.

All of this led her to cast a vote for Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party for the first time during France’s parliamentary elections this weekend.

“People are struggling, and there seems to be no relief in sight,” said Ms. Gallois, her frustration clear as she wandered through an artisanal market in the northern French city of Beauvais with her fiancé, but refrained from buying. “The government says they’ve addressed it, but we keep falling behind.”

As the dust settles from France’s elections, one thing has not changed: anger over a cost-of-living crisis that continues to affect households across the country.