Follow-up – Al-Rasheed
The French Interior Ministry announced that the turnout in the second round of the country’s legislative elections reached 59.71% at 17:00 local time, the highest since 1981.
According to what was reported by Agence France-Presse from the ministry: “As of 17:00 local time in Paris, the participation rate in the second round of the legislative elections in the country reached 59.71%.”
The agency indicated that the percentage (61.4%) is “the highest in all the legislative elections recorded since 1981, which followed the election of François Mitterrand as President of the Republic.”
According to the Ipsos and Opinionway polling institutes, the final turnout in the second round today, Sunday, is estimated at 67%, while the Elabe Institute estimated the turnout at 67.1%, and from the Ifop Institute the rate was 66.5%, compared to 66.7% in the first round.
The results will be announced after the last polling stations close at 20:00 Paris time (21:00 Moscow time).
Law enforcement agencies are preparing for possible unrest after the election results are announced.
Polling stations opened on Sunday morning for voting in the second round of early elections for the National Assembly (the lower house of the French parliament), and according to the French Interior Ministry, the turnout in the second round at 12:00 Paris time (13:00 Moscow time) was 26.63%.
The first round of elections took place last Sunday, June 30. The right-wing National Rally party and its allies from the Republican Party won 33.15% of the votes, the left-wing New Popular Front won 27.99%, and President Emmanuel Macron’s coalition came in third with 20.04%.
Several opinion polls released on Friday showed the competition between the three blocs: the National Rally party and its allies on the far right, the New Popular Front alliance on the left, and President Emmanuel Macron’s camp on the center-right.
President Emmanuel Macron took France into the unknown with his surprise announcement on June 9 that he was dissolving the National Assembly and calling for early legislative elections, after his bloc failed in the European elections.
In an effort to block the National Rally, more than 200 candidates from the left and center withdrew from constituencies that were to witness a race between three candidates in the second round, thus strengthening the chances of the National Rally’s opponents.
For his part, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who is leading the presidential camp’s campaign, warned that “the danger today is a majority controlled by the extreme right, and this would be a disastrous project.”
