A PASSION for politics meant two Chester students travelled almost 600 miles between them to cast their vote in the French elections last weekend.
Nicolas Weir, 20, and his brother Antoine, 19, journeyed from Edinburgh and Newcastle to Liverpool respectively to put their cross next to their chosen candidate’s name.
The pair, from Curzon Park, have dual nationality with a French mother, Elise, and an English father, John. Antoine was born in Compiègne, and the two have recently returned from a holiday in France with their grandparents.
Nic, who is in his second year studying biology and ecology at the University of Edinburgh said: “I’m very interested in French politics. My vote counts and it’s important if I can make a difference.”
Antoine, a student of French and politics at the University of Newcastle, added: “I feel that I have a foot in each country and it is important to me and my family that I have a say in the future of France.”
Both spoke of the system in France as being fairer than in the UK with each party given an equal amount of media exposure.
Antoine said: “I didn’t know that much about the candidates before I arrived in France so Nic and I read up a lot about them and listened to what they had to say on television.”
There were 10 candidates in round one of the election and the two past the post for round two are Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande.
Neither Nic nor Antoine would confirm who they had voted in the first round but confessed to supporting Socialist Hollande in the two-horse race.
Mum Elise is going to have to vote by proxy for her sons in the final round of the presidential election on Sunday, May 6, as both will be in the throes of examinations.
