The attendance at the polls is two points below that reported five years ago, when Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen also faced each other in elections, with a wide victory for the leader of the Marching Republic and favorite for re-election this Sunday.

According to the polls, the abstention rate could be around 30 percent of voters registered, higher than the 25.4 registered in 2017, but lower than the record of 31.1 percent in the 1969 elections.

The first cut of the Ministry of the Interior on the attendance to the polls reflected the department of Seine-Saint-Denis, in the Paris Region, with the lowest, just 15.3 percent.

The far-right candidate has already exercised her right to vote in Hénin-Beaumont, in the northern department of Pas-de-Calais, while Macron must do the same before the beginning of the afternoon.

Other candidates for the presidency who remained in the first round, held on April 10, also voted, including the third with the most support, the leader of La France Insumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon; conservative Valérie Pécresse and socialist mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.

Polling stations will be open in France until 7:00 p.m. local time, on average, although in large cities they will close at 8:00 p.m., when the first results of the presidential elections will be released.

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