The second round of early elections to the National Assembly (lower house of parliament) started in the European part of France, where polling stations were opened on Sunday morning.
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Voting will last from 08:00 to 18:00 local time. In Paris, Toulouse, Lyon, Bordeaux, Montpellier and Marseille, voters will be able to vote until 20:00 local time. In the overseas departments, voting began on Saturday and in most of them it has already ended or is coming to an end, as in the case of New Caledonia.
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Even in the first round, the Republic’s Ministry of Internal Affairs noted the highest voter turnout since 1997 at 66.7%, while in the second round, according to the forecast of the French Institute of Public Opinion (Ifop), it could be even higher (69%). A few days before the opening of polling stations, 460 thousand French people living abroad voted via the Internet, which is a record for this type of voting. Also, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the record for the number of requests for proxy voting set in the first round has been broken again: in the second round, 3.2 million citizens of the republic plan to cast their votes through friends or relatives.
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The main struggle for 577 seats in the National Assembly took place between the centrist presidential coalition, the right-wing National Rally and the left-wing New Popular Front. According to the latest Ifop poll, National Rally candidates could win between 170 and 210 seats in the lower house, while a party needs 289 seats to achieve an absolute majority. The left-wing New Popular Front alliance and its allies could win between 155 and 185 seats, while the presidential coalition Together for the Republic could have between 120 and 150. There are 577 deputies in the National Assembly.
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The results of the first round of voting will be summed up after the closing of the last polling stations at 21:00 Moscow time. The French electoral code places a strict ban on the publication of exit polls or any other forecasts before the end of voting. Violation of this prohibition is subject to a fine of up to €75 thousand.
