It’s D-Day: a big political Sunday has started on the occasion of the European elections. The polling stations opened at 8 a.m. on June 9 in mainland France – certain overseas territories such as Guadeloupe, Guyana and Martinique having voted on Saturday – so that voters can elect the 81 French MEPs who will sit in the European Parliament for the next five years. They will close between 6 and 8 p.m., depending on the city. More than 49 million French people are asked to choose between 38 lists.
A particularity of the continental vote, EU countries called their citizens to the polls on Thursday, even if the majority of countries opted for Sunday voting. France is obviously part of this last category, and L’Express invites you to follow the progress of this election day live.
Information to remember
⇒ Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. in mainland France
⇒ They will close at 6 p.m. in most towns, at 8 p.m. in large cities
⇒ In 2019, participation was 50.12%
Europeans, a vote spread over 4 days
This is a particularity of the continental vote: not all countries vote on the same day. But the consolidated results are all revealed at the same time. This Sunday, June 9, citizens of 21 countries are called to the polls. There is France, of course, but also Germany, Poland, Greece, Spain, Portugal… Italy votes over two days, Saturday and Sunday.
Other nations have taken a bit of a lead. This is the case of the Netherlands which voted first on Thursday. Ireland did so on Friday; Latvia, Malta or Slovakia on Saturday. In the Czech Republic, voting is also spread over two days, Friday and Saturday.
Voting under high security in New Caledonia
In New Caledonia, the vote is taking place under high security, three and a half weeks after the start of the riots which shook the South Pacific archipelago. “92% of polling stations” were able to open at 7 a.m. (local time, i.e. Saturday 10 p.m. in Paris), according to the High Commission of the Republic. At noon local time, the participation rate was up very slightly compared to the 2019 vote: 8.81% compared to 8.13%.
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52% of French people say they are pessimistic about the future of the European Union. An absolute record. Why such disenchantment? In this new long video format, we asked Olivier Costa and Thierry Chopin, both political scientists and specialists in Europe, to make a diagnosis of this “French exception”.
Welcome to this live broadcast dedicated to the European elections
Hello everyone ! If you are not yet familiar with the European Parliament, if you are still wondering about certain modalities of the election, on the reasons for a vote spread over four days across the continent, or if you would like to remind yourself the poll predictions published just before the reserve period, you can consult all our articles dedicated to these European elections of June 9, 2024 on this page.