French election first round 5 p.m. turnout slightly lower than 2012
Xinhua, April 23, 2017 Adjust font size:
Some 69.42 percent of registered voters have casted their votes in the first round of the presidential election by 5 p.m. local time (1500 GMT) on Sunday, the French interior ministry said.
The figure is slightly lower than that of the previous election in 2012, which stood at 70.59 percent at the same hour.
At noon, the turnout was 28.54 percent, compared with 28.29 percent in 2012.
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.
Out of the 11 candidates, four remain frontrunners in previous polls, namely the centrist former Minister of economy Emmanuel Macron, the far-rightist Marine Le Pen, the right-wing conservative Francois Fillon and the far-leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon. Endit