PARIS, May 26 (Xinhua) -- As French citizens continued to cast their ballots on Sunday to elect their representatives in the European Parliament, the turnout stood at 19.26 percent by midday local time (1000GMT), the French Interior Ministry said.
The ministry data showed less than a quarter of 47 million registered voters had participated by noon, up from the 15.7-percent rate in the 2014 election, and higher than in 2009 when it was 14.81 percent.
Traditionally marked by low turnout, the European elections would attract between 46 percent and 52 percent of voters, according to BVA pollster.
In 2014, the overall turnout was at 42 percent.
A high abstention rate could benefit the political forces that had mobilized their supporters who are the most interested in the European issues such as the the Republic on the Move (LREM) ruling party and its rival far-right National Rally (RN), Erwan Lestrohan, an analyst at BVA opinion institute told Xinhua in a recent interview.
However, low turnout likely to penalize other parties, among the traditional right-wing "The Republicans" and the Socialist Party whose efforts to revive their camps after defeat in 2017 presidential elections doomed to fail, he added.
In a European vote, which had been framed as a battle between reformists and populists, French voters have to choose 74 lawmakers for the 751-seat parliament based in Strasbourg. French parties could have additional five seats if Britain quit the European bloc.
Final polls projected the far-right National Rally's ranking would emerge first, ahead of the Republic on the Move ruling party with a narrow margin.
In France mainland, the polling stations will close at 6 p.m with those in big cities closing two hours later.
The first official results will be released after the last voting booths close at 8 p.m.
