France Presidential elections: Emmanuel Macron, Le Pen cast their votes in close contest
As France is voting to elect its next leader, incumbent President Emmanuel Macron and his far-right challenger Marine Le Pen cast their ballots on Sunday.
- World News
- 2 min read
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As France is voting to elect its next leader, incumbent President Emmanuel Macron and his far-right challenger Marine Le Pen cast their ballots on Sunday. The 44-year-old Macron won the first round of the election with 27.8% of the votes on April 10 and is seeking to become the first President to win back to back election since Jacques Chirac in 2002. Meanwhile, Le Pen, who received 23.1% of the first-round vote, is running for the presidency for the third time. The 53-year-old nationalist politician is aspiring to be the country's first female president.
A voté ! 🗳 pic.twitter.com/Nm3YnrxBI1
— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) April 24, 2022
According to the French Interior Ministry, 26.41% of eligible voters have cast ballots till midday in the presidential runoff election.
It stated that this is greater than the 25.48% turnout in the first round on April 10, but it falls short of the 28.23% turnout in the second round in 2017 till midday, The Associated Press (AP) reported. Macron, the incumbent centrist, is the front-runner in the election, but he is up against far-right competitor Le Pen.
A voté !
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 24, 2022
Aux milliers de Françaises et de Français qui permettent au scrutin de se tenir : merci. Dans les bureaux de vote de nos villes et de nos villages, vous êtes le cœur battant de notre démocratie. pic.twitter.com/uMzsMu0pJi
Opinion polls predict 2nd term for Macron
All recent opinion polls have pointed to the 44-year-old pro-European centrist winning, although the margin over his 53-year-old nationalist opponent varies widely, ranging from 6 to 15 percentage points, depending on the poll. In most regions, polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time on Sunday and will close at 7 p.m., with the exception of major cities, which decided to keep polling stations open until 8 p.m. According to reports, a record-high percentage of individuals will either vote blank or not vote at all.
First round of French election
The first round of the French presidential election took place on April 10. In the election, 48.7 million people had the opportunity to vote for one of 12 candidates competing for the European Union's second-largest economy, according to local media. Among the 12 candidates, seven ran in the 2017 election. Notably, the top two candidates - Le Pen and Macron - then advanced to the second and final rounds of the election.