Voter turnout was 26.41% by noon local time (13.00 Cypriot time), the turnout rate in the second round of the French presidential election today, according to figures from the French Ministry of the Interior.
The turnout is lower compared to the same time in the 2017 election, when it stood at 28.23%, but higher compared to the first round of the 2022 election two weeks ago, when it stood at 25.48% by noon.
Analysts say a low turnout adds to the uncertainty surrounding the final result.
Voting began at 8 a.m. local time and the first official estimates of who or who will be inside the Elysee Palace over the next five years will be made public when the last ballot box closes at 9 p.m. ET. In most French constituencies the polls close at 20.00 GMT, but in the eight largest French cities they close at 21.00.
Apparent victory
Polls in recent days show outgoing and re-election candidate President Macron with between 53.5% and 57.5%, i.e. probably the winner of the presidential election, but with a significantly lower percentage than the 66% he received in 2017, again against Marin Le Pen.
On the other hand, Marine Le Pen, heiress of the far-right party founded by her father Jean-Marie 50 years ago, is defeated for the third time in her career, but she seems to be raising the French far-right to unprecedented levels. In 2002 her father received 5 million votes, in 2017 she received 10 million votes and today she will probably hover around 15 million votes.
Based on the results of the first round of the election and the polls that followed, Marin Le Pen would have some chance of prevailing in today's election if voters in the first round of leftist candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon's first round opted to abstain en masse, if many of Macron's first-round voters, considering victory assured, also opt for abstention and, finally, if many of those who did not vote in the first round turn out in the second round to vote en masse for Le Pen. The possibility of all these things happening at the same time does not seem likely.
Melanson's voters
Melanson, who on the evening of the first round urged his voters not to give "a single vote to Le Pen", asked them on 19 April not to opt for abstention either, without, however, advocating a vote for Macron. That said, the number of those who will vote either blank or white is expected to be high, possibly surpassing the 11.5% that it was in 2017. However, this is likely to be in favour of Macron, who is leading, as invalid and blank ballots are not taken into account in the final result.
Source: cnn.gr
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