France enters the first round of presidential election
Sunday, April 22, 2012
(VOVworld)- Around 40 million voters in France today/Sunday begun casting ballots in the first round of the French presidential election, which will set a course for the next five years. Sunday's voting will elect a list of 10 candidates from across the political spectrum to two finalists for the decisive runoff on May 6.
Two main rivals at this year's presidential election |
Polls for months have suggested that conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande, a Socialist, are likely to make that cut with Hollande taking the lead ahead his rival Sarkozy. There remain unknown factors that make the results of the election’s first round more unpredictable. A factor that might play a key role to the final result is the possible 30% percentage of people not coming to the polls. Moreover, a question being discussed most lately is about who will come third in the election as this person will hold a major role in the alliance negotiation in preparations for the 2nd round. Polling stations will open until 6 pm and 8 pm at some places, and preliminary results are expected to be announced at 8 pm local time on Sunday.
Paris-based VOV correspondent Thuy Van-Dao Dung