According to the first report of the institution, at 12:00 local time, about five percents less of people had voted, while the participation during the last two local elections had reached 23 percent in the same time lapse.
Around 48 million French people were called to the polls in a complex scenario, marked by the scourge of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
The growing spread of the virus in the country has unleashed an alarm among the population, after the government decreed the epidemic phase on Saturday, and implemented measures to keep people at home and away from each other as much as possible, closing off non-essential businesses and services and encouraging the “teleworking.”
According to surveys released on Friday and Saturday, abstentionism could reach nearly 40 percent, an unprecedented level.
Some politicians and scientists considered a mistake holding the municipal elections, whose first round began this Sunday at 08:00 local time, to elect half a million councilors from almost 35,000 communes from among 902,465 candidates.
However, the government assured that the decision was the result of consultations with the Scientific Council and the parties, while President Emmanuel Macron defended the importance of «guaranteeing democratic and institutional continuity» in his message to the nation on Thursday.
In France, up until Saturday, 4,500 infections, 91 deaths and 300 people hospitalized in serious condition were confirmed, double the figures registered just three days ago.
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