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High turnout for French referendum

PARIS, May 29 (AFP) – Two out of three French voters had turned out by 7pm Sunday to cast their ballots in the country’s hotly-contested referendum on the EU constitution, the interior ministry said.  

The ministry said 66.24 percent of the country’s 42 million eligible voters had already participated in Sunday’s referendum, with polls due to close in most of the country at 8:00 pm, and at 10:00 pm in Paris and Lyon.  

At midday Sunday, voter turnout stood at 25.08 percent.  

In 1992, when France voted by a slim margin to approve the Maastricht treaty that created the common European currency, final voter turnout was 69.7 percent.  

The CSA polling institute estimated that final turnout would reach 75 percent, while Ipsos predicted that final participation would be at least 76 percent.  

Pollsters remained prudent about how a high turnout would affect the outcome of Sunday’s referendum, saying it could work to the advantage of either camp.

  

© AFP

Subject: French News