The polling stations for the first round of the French presidential elections began to be closed. Only schools in large cities are open, where voting is allowed until 8 pm local time.
The latest polls of intent to vote agreed that President Emmanuel Macron, and far-right candidate Marine Le Pen are the favorites to move to the runoff on April 24, but in total there are 12 candidates: Nathalie Arthaud, Fabien Roussel, Jean Lassalle, Eric Zemmour, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Anne Hidalgo, Yannick Jadot, Valérie Pécresse, Philippe Poutou and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan.
In recent days Le Pen has progressively eroded Macron's lead and the latest polls, released last Friday, give the president a two-three point lead in both the first and second rounds.
Five years ago it was the two who starred in the last duel, and Macron won with 66.10% of the votes, while the second finished with 33.90%.
In practice, the first French voters to go to the polls yesterday from 10:00 GMT were those of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, an archipelago in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland with 10,000 inhabitants. Then it was the turn of those from the Antilles, Guiana and Polynesia.
French people registered in the registers of foreign consulates (there are about 1.8 million) can go to vote there or to embassies.
One of the keys to this day could be in the level of abstention. According to the official report released at 17 o'clock by the Ministry of the Interior, 65% participation was reached, more than four points less than in 2017, when 69.42% of the register voted. At noon, this rate was 25.48%, compared to 28.54% five years ago.
The record for low turnout in a first round in the Fifth Republic is 58.45% in 2002, in which the National Front candidate, Jean-Marie Le Pen, took a surprising second place that allowed him to reach the second round.
In France, the publication of any results, partial or definitive, is prohibited until the closing of the last schools at 20.00 local time (18.00 GMT) and that is when the media will release the first estimates based on polls at the ballot box.
In development...
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