French election turnout 28.23 percent at midday

Turnout in France’s presidential election currently stands at 28.23 percent, the interior ministry says, down from 30.66 percent at the same point in the 2012 presidential ballot.

Sunday’s figure was slightly down on the midday participation rate of 28.54 recorded during the first round of the election on April 23.

Overall turnout for French presidential elections is generally high, at around 80 percent.

Election campaign posters for French centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron and far-right candidate Marine Le Pen are displayed in front of the polling station where Marine Le Pen will vote in Henin Beaumont, northern France, May 6, 2017. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Sunday’s election pitting centrist Emmanuel Macron against Marine Le Pen of the far right falls in the middle of a three-day weekend in France. It is the first in the six decades of the Fifth Republic in which neither the traditional left nor right has a candidate.

A recent voter survey found that seven in 10 voters are unhappy with the choice between Macron and Le Pen. The interior ministry is to issue the next turnout figures at 5 p.m. local time, while first estimated results are expected shortly after 8 p.m.

— AFP