Participation at 12:00 is at 26.6%
The total uncertainty about which government will emerge from this Sunday’s legislative elections, including the possibility of the far right coming to power, is causing citizens to flock to the polls. The turnout, at 12 noon, was 26.63%, according to the Ministry of the Interior. The figure is higher than the 25.9% of the first round last Sunday at the same time and, above all, much higher than in the 2022 legislative elections, when it barely reached 18.99% at midday.
The figures confirm the high turnout expected in these early legislative elections, which saw 66.71% of French voters cast their ballots in the first round last Sunday. This was the highest turnout in 27 years, since the legislative elections in 1997 (67.9%). In the parliamentary elections two years ago, only 47.51% voted in the first round.
These initial figures – there will be another voter survey at 5 p.m. – confirm the high turnout predicted by polls in recent days. According to the Ipsos institute, the number of French people who have declared their intention to vote this Sunday is between 66 and 70%, even higher than in the first round.
According to highlights The Worldonly 43.3 million French people are called to vote this Sunday, as nearly six million citizens live in constituencies where a candidate won in the first round, so they do not have to vote a second time. Of the 577 seats up for grabs, 76 have already been allocated since June 30: 39 deputies from the far-right National Rally (RN) and its allies, 32 from the left-wing alliance New Popular Front (NFP), two from the hitherto pro-Macro majority, two from the diverse right and one from the conservatives Les Républicains (LR). There remain 409 duels and 89 triangular ones, where none of the qualified candidates has withdrawn to stop the RN, as has been done in more than 200 constituencies.