Voter turnout in first round of French regional elections reaches 42.98%

Voter turnout across France on Sunday in the first round of regional elections stood at 42.98 percent at 17:00 local time (1600GMT), French Interior Ministry announced.
This rate is higher than that of the first round of 2011 elections when the then turnout stood at 36.38 percent.
The midday's turnout of 18.02 percent was also higher than 15.7 percent reported four years ago.
Candidates vying for seats in the regional councils need to secure more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a second-round ballot.
For those who can not collect enough votes to claim victory, they need to obtain 12.5 percent in the first round of vote to head to the runoff on March 29.
The CSA pollster suggests that half of about 43 million eligible voters would go to polls in the first round of regional elections, an unexpected turnout as French voters tend to show less interest in regional polls. It estimated the abstention rate at 48.5 percent.
The preliminary result of the ballots will be published after 20:00 local time (1900 GMT) when the last polling station closes.