The first round of the French presidential elections began on Sunday in all 96 metropolitan departments, with nearly 49 million people eligible to vote and 12 candidates in the race.
The polling stations opened at 08:00 hours, local time, and the first results of the elections, which began in the overseas territories on Saturday, will be known as of 20:00 hours, local time.
As occurred on Saturday, the electoral silence, which results in prohibiting to disseminate propaganda and divulging surveys, programs and interviews with the candidates to the Elysée Palace is in force on Sunday, although the media can cover the moment when politicians cast their votes.
The polls conducted until Friday unanimously reflected that President Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen are the favorite candidates for the April 24 runoff, a forecast that if it is confirmed today, it would repeat the runoff duel of five years ago.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of La France Insoumise, closed the campaign in the third place, although also with options to advance in the return to the polls in two weeks, while far-right candidate Éric Zemmour and conservative right-wing politician Valérie Pécresse seem without chances, after coming second in the opinion polls to the contest.
The list of candidates is completed by ecologist Yannick Jadot, Communist Party National Secretary Fabien Roussel, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, legislators Jean Lassalle and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, New Anticapitalist Party representative Philippe Poutou, and Lutte Ouvriere Spokesperson Nathalie Arthaud.
In view of the continuing impact of Covid-19, a pandemic that has reemerged in France since mid-March, the elections are taking place under sanitary measures, including the disinfection of the premises used for voting.
Prensa Latina
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