Data Vis Dispatch, April 12

Last Sunday was the first round of the French presidential election. There were maps:

Several papers, including Le Monde, Libération, and the Süddeutsche Zeitung, used cartograms or other methods to show the number of voters in each region:

Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen will advance to the second vote on April 24, in a rematch of the 2017 election. Although voter turnout was down, both candidates improved their first-round results this year:

While on the other hand, France's historical ruling parties suffered a total collapse:

The surprise of the night was Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who overperformed his polls to finish with 22% of the vote:

In a tight second round, Mélenchon's voters could be decisive — though they're divided on which candidate to support:

In Ukraine, meanwhile, evidence of Russian atrocities against civilians continues to grow:

After Ukrainian forces pushed back Russian advances in the north, fighting has reconcentrated in the east of the country. Maps of the military situation are shown in chronological order:

More than 11 million Ukrainians have been displaced from their homes:

And the disruption to Ukrainian agriculture and shipping has roiled global food markets:

Meanwhile, the European Union can't quit Russian energy imports:

And even as ordinary Russians are enduring a political and informational crackdown, public opinion surveys show support for Putin at a four-year high:

In COVID news, several deadly outbreaks in Asia are tearing through cities that had previously avoided the worst of the pandemic:

And we're still uncovering the unequal effects of COVID — even as some parts of the economy return to pre-pandemic normal:

Environmental charts this week had a water theme, with melting ice at the poles and dammed rivers in California:

Other topics included partisanship towards the U.S. Supreme Court, class attitudes in the U.K., and the dynamics of rent in Madrid: