“Never so high in the 21st century”. The data –

Polling stations open from 8 am in France. For the first round of the legislative elections, called on June 9 by President Emmanuel Macron and favored by the Rassemblement National of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, over 49 million citizens are called to the polls to choose the 577 deputies of the National Assembly. Pollsters and parties expected a very strong increase in participation compared to the 2022 legislative elections, in which 47.51% of voters went to the polls. And the numbers, in fact, confirm it. The data on turnout of 25.90% at 12, provided by the French Ministry of the Interior, show a result never seen in the 21st century, as Le Figaro points out.

In the first round of the 2017 legislative elections, turnout was 19.24%, 21.06% in 2012, 22.56% in 2007 and 19.7% in 2002. In 1997, during the last early legislative elections, turnout at midday was 22.74%. Bfmtv explains that it is in Aveyron that the largest number of French people went to vote this morning with a turnout rate of 34.41%, followed by Bouches-du-Rhône (33.70%) and Gers (33.61%). The department where the fewest votes have been cast so far is Seine-Saint-Denis. French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal went to his polling station in Vanves, in the 10th constituency of Hauts-de-Seine, in the late morning to vote in the early legislative elections.

The former Minister of Education is running for the third consecutive time under the Renaissance/Ensemble pour la République label. Two former presidents, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, have already voted this morning. Sarkozy voted in the 16th arrondissement accompanied by Benjamin Haddad, candidate of Ensemble pour la République, and Jérémy Redler, mayor of the district. Hollande voted at his polling station in Tulle, in Corrèze. François Hollande, where he unexpectedly ran to try to stem the rise of RN.