Voter turnout for the first round of France's presidential election today was the lowest recorded by midday local time (11 a.m. Irish time GMT), according to Interior Ministry figures.
A ministry official said 21.41 per cent of the electorate had voted by midday compared to 22.52 per cent by the same time at the first round of the last presidential election in 1995.
That figure was the previous record low for midday voting in the 44-year-old Fifth Republic. Polling ends at 6 p.m. (4 p.m. Irish time) in most of the country, but at 8 p.m. (6 p.m. Irish time) in large cities such as Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Some 40 million people eligible to vote.
The campaign has been marked by widespread voter apathy and disenchantment with the two rivals, President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. Opinion pollsters are predicting that up to 30 per cent of voters could stay at home.
Polls show that the two frontrunners can expect a combined score of no more than around 37 percent - a record low in the 44 year-old Fifth Republic - with the rest going to a wide field of 14 other candidates ranging from the Trotskyist left to the ultra-nationalist right.
Promises by Mr Jospin to end homelessness or by Mr Chirac to cut income tax by a third are given little credence, and polls show that around two-thirds of the electorate consider their manifestos either "not very different" or "almost identical".
The slim hopes of an upset in round one rest on the chances of the veteran leader of the far-right National Front (FN), Mr Jean-Marie Le Pen (73) who has seen his ratings surge in recent days and says he is now in striking distance of the leaders.