The second round of the presidential election in France, which takes place this Sunday (24) and pits center-right president Emmanuel Macron, 44, against the far-right Marine Le Pen, 53, became even more uncertain with the release of the first attendance figures for the elections. polls earlier this afternoon.
The midday voter turnout of 26.41%, according to the French Interior Ministry, is two points lower than in 2017, in the first clash between Macron of the LREM party (La République en Marche, the republic in action), and Le Pen, from RN (Rassemblement National, national meeting). It surpasses, however, by one point that of the first round.
Optional, voting ends at 8pm local time, 3pm Brasilia time.
Alongside the suburbs of Val d’Oise and Seine-Saint-Denis, Paris topped the list of cities with the lowest morning turnout. The expectation was that the presence of voters would intensify in the late afternoon. The relatively open time and the school recess, which began shortly after the first shift, cast even more doubts on the recovery of the abstention level.
The fate of the voters of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, third in the first round, is, however, the main unknown. Rejection of Macron could lead a good part of them to simply not vote, to opt for a blank vote or even to take the more radical option in favor of Le Pen, despite Mélenchon’s own recommendation. “We know who we will never vote for. We must not vote for Ms. Le Pen,” declared leftist party candidate La France Insoumise (unsubmissive France).
Macron voted this Sunday (24) at 1 pm in Tuquet, northern France, and is expected to return to Paris in the afternoon. The current president’s plan is to meet with supporters on the Champ de Mars, in front of the Eiffel Tower, after the polls close.
The far-right candidate Marine Le Pen appeared at her polling station late in the morning, in the city of Hénin-Beaumont, also in the north of the country.
Le Pen was greeted on arrival at her polling place, accompanied by the city’s mayor, Steeve Briois, another exponent of RN, Le Pen’s party. She also returns to Paris in the afternoon.
Intent polls give Macron a lead of up to 15 percentage points, who has widened his gap with Le Pen in the final days of the campaign.
