Turnout figures for the first round of the French presidential election showed a 69.42 percentage participation rate by around 1700 local time (1500 GMT), the Interior Ministry said on Sunday, with the numbers down slightly from the last election.
Turnout figures for the first round of the French presidential election showed a 69.42 percentage participation rate by around 1700 local time (1500 GMT), the Interior Ministry said on Sunday, with the numbers down slightly from the last election.
The latest turnout figure compared to 70.59% at the same time during the last election in 2012, 73.87% in 2007 and 58.45% in 2002.
Voters will decide whether to back a pro-EU centrist newcomer, a scandal-ridden veteran conservative who wants to slash public spending, a far-left eurosceptic admirer of Fidel Castro or to appoint France's first woman president who would shut borders and ditch the euro.
The outcome will show whether the populist tide that saw Britain vote to leave the EU and Donald Trump's election in the United States (US) is still rising, or starting to ebb.
Emmanuel Macron, 39, a centrist ex-banker who set up his party just a year ago, is the opinion polls' favourite to win the first round and beat far-right National Front chief Marine Le Pen in the two-person run-off on May 7. For them to win the top two qualifying positions on Sunday would represent a huge change in the political landscape. The second round would then feature neither of the mainstream parties that have governed France for decades.
But conservative Francois Fillon is making a comeback after being plagued for months by a fake jobs scandal, and leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon's ratings have surged in recent weeks. Any two of the four has a chance to qualify for the run-off.
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 "French expats queue along the street outside the Lycee Francais Charles de Gaulle to cast their vote in a polling station inside")
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