65.3 percent voter turnout in second round of French Presidential polls

London [U.K.], May 7 (ANI): The voter turnout in the second round of French Presidential polls has been recorded at 65.3 percent till 5 p.m. (GMT+2), lower than the previous elections. The previous elections recorded 71.96 percent turnout in 2012, 75.1 percent in 2005 and 67.62 percent in 2002, The Guardian quoted France's Interior Ministry's report. In the first round of the current elections, National Front candidate Marine Le Pen finished second behind Emmanuel Macron on 21.3 percent. The Interior Ministry has also highlighted that the abstention rate has been recorded noticeably higher than the previous three presidential elections. Around 47 million voters will choose their next President, the eighth in the Fifth Republic. The last polls close at 8 p.m. and usually reliable estimates of the result will be known almost immediately. l Macron, a centrist former banker and economy minister, has espoused economically liberal, socially progressive, ideas. His rival, Marine Le Pen of the far-right Front National, is a nation-first protectionist, who wants to close France's borders and abandon the euro and European Union. Macron wants to ease labour laws, boost education in deprived areas, extend welfare protection to the self-employed and re-energise the EU. Le Pen aims to cut immigration to 10,000 a year, punish outsourcing by multinationals, and eradicate Islamism. (ANI)