French citizens vote in Presidential election

The 2022 election will be the 12th Presidential election of the 5th Republic

A large number of French citizens in Puducherry turned up at the French Consulate on Sunday to exercise their franchise in the first round of the polls to elect their next President.

Voting began at the specially set up counters at the Consulate and Lycée Français at 8 a.m. Several senior citizens were seen entering the polling stations at both the centres. People on wheelchairs were ably guided by the staff deployed there. The French Consulate said that apart from the two centres in Puducherry, a polling booth was set up in Karaikal region.

According to a press release, the 2022 election will be the 12 th Presidential election of the 5th Republic, and the 11 th by direct universal suffrage. If no candidate wins an absolute majority in the first round, a second round would be held. The second round has been scheduled for April 24.

There are as many as 4,564 French citizens residing in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The number of people who exercised their franchise in the first round of the polls would be known by Sunday night, a Consulate member said. Apart from the polling stations in the Union Territory, the Consulate had set up a centre in Chennai.