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French president Hollande casts vote in election

Xinhua, April 23, 2017 Adjust font size:

French president Francois Hollande casted his vote on Sunday morning in the first round of a historic presidential election that will weigh on the future of Europe.

Hollande voted at a polling station in Tulle, Correze in central France at 10 a.m. local time (0800 GMT). After voting the president greeted other voters queuing up at the same station.

Polling stations at France's European continent opened at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) and will run for a maximum of 12 hours. Those in the largest cities will close at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT). In France's oversea territories, the voting was held on Saturday.

Around 47 million French voters are registered to cast their votes at some 69,000 polling stations.

The voting will winnow down a list of 11 candidates to two finalists for a runoff vote scheduled for May 7, if no one wins by at least 50 percent in the first round.

Hollande himself was not a candidate in this election. Endit