Paris, 23 April (EFE).- The second round of the French presidential elections, in which nearly 49 million French voted, began this Saturday in some overseas territories.
The first polling stations to decide the duel between reelection candidate Emmanuel Macron and far-right Marine Le Pen opened at 10:00 GMT in the Saint-Pierre and Miquelon archipelago off the coast of Canada.
During the day they will gradually do so in other French territories in the Caribbean such as Guiana and the islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin.
The French in these territories have voted a day ahead of those in the metropolitan area since 2007, to prevent them from casting their ballots when they already know the outcome of the majority of their fellow citizens, who might favor abstaining.
In the early hours of Sunday it’s the turn of French Polynesia and New Caledonia, where polling stations open at 8 a.m. local time.
Later they will start voting on Reunion Island and the Mayotte Archipelago in the Indian Ocean.
At the same time, the French living abroad can vote at the consulates (first in America and then on the other continents).
Registered voters in the overseas territories total 1.96 million, which is just over 4% of the census. A total of almost 1.5 million people live abroad.
In metropolitan France, polling stations will open at 18:00 GMT tomorrow, Sunday, and will close at 17:00 GMT in rural areas and small towns and 18:00 GMT in major cities.