Three hours before the polls closed for the second round of the French presidential elections this Sunday (24th) by 5 p.m. (local time), 63.23% of voters had cast their votes.
The rate is lower than in the first round, when the registered turnout was 65%, according to the Interior Ministry. It is also two points below that of the second round of 2017 (65.3%).
More than 48 million French people were called to the polls today to decide whether to reelect current President Emmanuel Macron (Republic on March) or leave the presidency to candidate Marine Le Pen (National Assembly).
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Abstentions can change the outcome of this election. In the first round, more than a quarter of the French did not vote. In this scenario, the center candidate received 27.85% of the vote and the extreme right candidate 23.15%. The left JeanLuc Mélencon was third with 21.95%.
For the past two weeks, Macron and Le Pen have focused their efforts on persuading leftwing voters to vote for them in order to deny the others entry or continuity at the Élysée Palace.
Elections in France: The election for the new president begins this Sunday
Many of these French are disappointed with the outcome of the first ballot and prefer not to vote. According to an Ipsos poll on Friday (22nd), 38 percent of Mélenchon supporters had no intention of voting for either candidate.
The participation rate still needs to increase. French people can vote until 7pm in most parts of France. Residents of Paris and major cities have one hour left and can vote at 8 p.m.
The candidates voted earlier in the day. The two candidates in this second round voted earlier in the day in their constituencies in the north of the country.
Marine Le Pen voted for HéninBeaumont around 11am local time. Macron voted alongside First Lady Brigitte Macron for Touquet around 1:30 p.m. early in the afternoon.
The first estimate of the outcome of this Sunday’s voting will be released at 20:00 local time (15:00 GMT).