More than 3,500 French citizens in Majorca and Minorca will today exercise their right to vote in the first round of the French presidential election. Some 1,000 French residents in Ibiza will also be voting.
The French honorary consul in Majorca, Michel Magnier, says that there are 14,500 French citizens who are resident in the Balearics; 12,000 of them are in Majorca. This number is expected to increase because of French investment. Magnier adds that there are some 500 French businesspeople in the Balearics on the consulate's database.
The polling booth in Majorca is in the annexe to the French Lyceum in the calle Lluís Fábregas in Palma and will be open from until 6pm. A high turnout is expected, as is the case in France itself. Counting should be finished before 10pm, and the information will be passed via the consulate general in Barcelona to the French interior ministry. In a fortnight's time, the French voters in the Balearics will more than likely repeat the process to decide the winner between the two top candidates first time round.
At the last presidential election, the French vote in the Balearics favoured Nicolas Sarkozy rather than François Hollande, who was elected president.
So long as they are registered to do so, French foreign citizens have the right to vote in the presidential elections and indeed all others; there is no time restriction in terms of years abroad that affects this right.