The voting in France has begun

France, Paris.Photo: Norway Today Media

The voting booths have opened in France. For the next twelve hours, the French will decide which two presidential candidates will move on to the next round.

The voting started at 8 am Sunday morning. They close at 8 pm in the larger cities and at 7 in smaller places.

Eleven candidates participate in the first round of the presidential election. The two candidates who get the most votes continue on to the final round of presidential elections on May 7th unless in the unlikely event that anyone gets more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round.

A total of 47 million people are entitled to vote in France, including 1.3 million French nationals living elsewhere.

In the last 44 hours preceding the election, it is, under French law, illegal to campaign. The last polls were therefore presented on Friday evening.

Both give the independent centre candidate Emmanuel Macron a lead over the National Front Leader Marine Le Pen, followed by the conservative candidate François Fillon, the liberal candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Socialist candidate Benoît Hamon.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today