Irish Examiner view: By-election outcome shows electorate's appetite for change

Fianna Fáil has been humbled by the Dublin Bay South by-election result but the real lesson is for Fine Gael

Labour's Ivana Bacik makes a victory speech to supporters after winning the Dublin Bay South by-election. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA 

Voter turnout is a reliable yardstick measuring the health of a democracy; despite that, the French electorate effectively disengaged from the electoral process last month.

Over two rounds of regional elections for every citizen who chose to vote there were — roughly — three who did not: On June 20, only 26.72% exercised that hard-won right-cum-obligation; slightly more, 27.89% voted in the second round.