French Voter Turnout Bests Last Election

Voter turnout in France’s presidential election Sunday reached nearly 74 percent with only hours to go, surpassing the total from the last national election.

Figures from the Interior Ministry showed that with three hours of voting remaining, 73.87 percent of voters had cast their ballots. That figure far surpassed the final turnout of the 2002 elections, the BBC reported.

The impressive total also represented the highest voter turnout for a first round of elections in France since 1981.

The more than 1 million new registered voters also made history, as the increase was the largest in the last 25 years.

The election was expected to be dominated by center-right candidate Nicolas Sarkozy, socialist Segolene Royal, centrist Francois Bayrou and far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.

The French media predicted a close race between the top four candidates, with newspaper Le Parisien declaring: Anything can happen! CNN reported.

The second round of presidential elections is scheduled to take place May 6.