Europe 1 with AFP 12:48 p.m., April 10, 2022
Polling stations in New Caledonia and Polynesia recorded an increased abstention rate for the first round of the presidential election.
In Martinique, Reunion and Mayotte, however, the participation rate was on the contrary slightly up.
Overview.
The participation rate in the first round of the presidential election fell sharply in several overseas territories, including New Caledonia and Polynesia, which voted in advance, but it is slightly up in Guadeloupe and Martinique.
Voting began on Saturday in the French West Indies, Guyana (South America), Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (French archipelago in North America) and French Polynesia (South Pacific).
It has also been completed in New Caledonia, which is 10 hours ahead of France.
The highest abstention rates are found in the Pacific: in French Polynesia, only 23.78% of voters had moved to 5:00 p.m., according to the estimate of the High Commission.
They were 43.97% to have moved in 2017, at the same time.
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In New Caledonia, the participation rate at 5:00 p.m., two hours before the closing of the polls, was 33.04% against 41.80% five years earlier, according to the High Commission of the Republic.
In Wallis and Futuna, it was 44.92% at 5:00 p.m., compared to 49.15% in 2017. At the same time, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon recorded a participation rate of 44.40%.
A rise in Martinique
In Guadeloupe, on the other hand, the turnout at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday reached 37.08%, compared to 34.17% during the 2017 presidential election, at the same time.
This rate was also up slightly in Martinique with 35.1% participation at 5:00 p.m., compared to 34.82% in 2017.
In Reunion, an island in the Indian Ocean which started voting two hours before France, the turnout was 20.65% at 12:00 p.m., compared to 18.94% in 2017. In Mayotte also the turnout was up slightly at 12:00 p.m., to 16.98% against 14.66% in 2017 at midday.