The essential
The French were called to the polls this Sunday for the first round of regional and departmental elections (in the departments where there is still a departmental council).
The first results and estimates should be known from 8 p.m.
Abstention should be at a historic level.
At 5 p.m., the turnout stood at 26.72% according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior, against 43.01% in the regional elections in December 2015 and 42.75% for the departmental departments in March 2015.
Several regions are to be observed closely: Île-de-France, Hauts-de-France where the outgoing president, Xavier Bertrand, is also already a presidential candidate;
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (Paca) where RN Thierry Mariani is leading the polls, facing outgoing president Renaud Muselier, allied with LREM…
Follow the events of the evening live
18 hours.
Closure of polling stations almost everywhere.
Polling stations close everywhere in France, except in large cities where they can remain open until 8 p.m.
5:52 p.m.
A historically high abstention.
The abstention would reach between 66.5% and 68.6%, according to the first estimates of the polling institutes.
According to figures from the Ministry of the Interior, the turnout stood at 26.72% at 5 p.m., for the regional and departmental elections.
5.45 p.m.
Several problems in polling stations.
Polling stations remained closed much of the morning, this Sunday, in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), for lack of assessors.
There were also missing ballots in Maubeuge, in the North ... Dysfunctions which added to other problems of distribution of professions of faith with some voters complaining of not having received anything.
