The stake In the second round of the French legislative elections on Sunday, the vote reached 26.63% at 12:00 (10:00 GMT), the highest since 1981, the Interior Ministry reported.
In the first round of voting last Sunday, the turnout had reached 25.90% at the same time. In the 2017 elections, the turnout in the second round was 18.99%.
The high turnout so far shows the significant interest that the French have in this election, in which for the first time Marine Le Pen’s far-right might come out on top and take power.
The first official data on voter turnout for the election day came following news from many parts of the country indicated a high turnout at the polls, with complete normality and without incidents.
By this time, some of the most famous faces in French politics had already voted, including Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who was the earliest to vote.
Attal cast his vote at exactly 10:00 (8:00 GMT) in Vanves (Hauts-de-Seine), where he hopes to renew his seat in the tenth constituency of that department.
President Emmanuel Macron voted, as usual, accompanied by his wife Brigitte in the small coastal town of Le Touquet (north), where they are both registered.
Macron arrived at the local congress centre, where several voting tables are located, accompanied by the mayor. After casting his ballot at around 12:40 (10:40 GMT), he left the building to continue his personal tradition of chatting in the street with some of the town’s residents.
Massive participation
Former Socialist President François Hollande (2012-17) spoke at 11:22 a.m. (9:22 GMT) in Tulle, in the Corrèze department (centre), where he is a candidate following returning to active politics for these elections.
Eric Ciotti, the president of the conservative party Les Républiques (LR), had previously voted, although he is at odds with the party’s leadership over his personal alliance with Marine Le Pen’s far-right party.
Ciotti voted in the southeastern city of Nice, where he came first in the first round of the election for re-election to the seat he has held since 2008.
Former Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne cast her vote in Vire (Normandy, north-west) shortly following 11:00 (09:00 GMT), where she is a candidate for re-election.
As is customary in France, none of them made any statements to the press following casting their vote.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, whose RN party is the favourite to win the election, will not vote today because she has already been elected in the first round in her electoral stronghold of Henin-Beaumont (north).
Today’s vote is to elect 501 deputies, following 76 already secured their election in the first round by obtaining more than 50% of the votes in their constituency.
Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) party is the favourite in all polls to win, although the figures agree that it would fall short of an absolute majority of 289 seats.
This might leave France in a difficult situation of governability, with no party or coalition holding a majority and great difficulty in forging alliances due to the deep programmatic differences that separate them.
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2024-07-08 20:30:12