PARIS (Sputnik) — Among those competing for the right to run for presidency are ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, former prime ministers Alain Juppe and Francois Fillon, as well as lawmakers Bruno Le Maire, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, Jean-Frederic Puason and Jean-Francois Cope.
15 November 2016, 17:15 GMT
The first candidate to arrive at the polling station was Kosciusko-Morizet. She voted in the 14th district of the French capital. Francois Fillon voted a quarter of an hour later in the 7th district, and former president Nicolas Sarkozy came to vote with his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy an hour later. The last of the candidates, who visited a polling station in Bordeaux around noon, was former Prime Minister Juppe, Europe1 radio announced.
According to BFMTV channel, voter turnout in the primaries has already amounted to more than 1.1 million people. There are over 10,000 polling stations operating around the country.
The voting began at 8:00 a.m. local time (07:00 GMT) and will end at 7:00 p.m. The first results of the vote will be announced later in the day. If a single candidate does not emerge, the second round will be held on November 27.
The French presidential election is scheduled for April 2017.
