French 2024 General Elections: Voter turnout up to 25.09% at midday

Participation in the first round of the french legislative elections reached 25.09 percent of the census at midday (10:00 GMT), the highest figure in several decades, the Ministry of the Interior reported.

Two years ago, only 18.43% of the electorate had voted by that time, and in 2017, 19.24%, according to Interior figures.

The most recent election with a similar turnout at the same time was the first round in 1997, another early election, with a turnout of 22.74%.

In the first round of the 2022 elections, participation was only 47.51% and voting intention polls have indicated that today it could be around 64-66% due to the strong increase in interest among the French.

Election day is currently proceeding normally and most of the main political leaders had already cast their votes at this time.

The earliest riser was Manuel Bombard,coordinator of the leftist The Insoumise France (LFI), which cast its vote just after 10:00 local time (08:00 GMT) in Marseilles (on).

Just a couple of minutes later the president of the far-right did so National Group (RN) and favorite in all polls to be the next prime minister, Jordan Bardella,who voted electronically in Garches (Hauts de Seine), on the outskirts of Paris.

Around 11:30 (09:30 GMT) the current prime minister voted, Gabriel Attalin Vanves (also in the department of Hauts-de-Seine), and the former socialist president Françoise Hollande,who is a candidate for deputy in the Corrèze.

Shortly before, the former prime minister and macronnism heavyweight had done so Édourd Philippe in Le Havre,a northern city of which he is mayor, and Eric Ciotti,leader of the conservative party The Republicans,who has personally allied himself with the RN against the majority of his party, and who voted in A string (southeast).

And just before noon he cast his vote Marine Le Pen,the leader of the RN, who did so in her electoral fiefdom of Henin-Beaumont,in the north, next to the Belgian border.

One of the latecomers was the president Emmanuel Macron,who together with his wife Brigitte cast his vote in the small coastal town of The Touquet (norte).

Macron and his wife, who have lived there since 2001, went to vote at a table located in the Congress Palace while a significant number of neighbors and curious onlookers watched from nearby.

As is usual in French elections, none of the candidates made statements to the press.