While most countries rely on exit polls to declare elections winners, at the risk of jumping the gun, pollsters in France base their estimates on actual ballots counted – a system made possible by the staggered closure of polling stations across the country.
French voters head to the polls on Sunday to elect their next president in a rematch of the 2017 duel pitting Emmanuel Macron against Marine Le Pen. Projections and preliminary results won’t be known until after the last polling stations close at 8pm. But in what has become a familiar ritual, social media networks will start buzzing hours earlier with rumours of Belgian or Swiss polls claiming to predict the outcome of the election.
