French voters are expected to turn out in high numbers

French voters are turning out in force for the second round of Sunday's National Assembly election, with turnout likely to be the highest in years.

Some 59.71 percent of voters had cast their ballots by 5pm local time, up from 38.11 percent at the same point in 2022 and slightly higher than the 59.39 percent at the same point in the first round of voting a week ago, AFP and Reuters reported.

The France-24 news network quoted pollster Ipsos Talan as predicting that the final turnout could be as high as 67 percent, up from 46.23 percent two years ago.

French authorities have deployed 30,000 police officers to guard against political clashes as voters fear a potential electoral earthquake could change the country's political landscape.

In the village of Rosheim, near the eastern city of Strasbourg, Mr. Schlamark, 72, said he feared that France was about to reach "a turning point in the history of the republic."

In the town of Tourcoing, near the northeastern city of Lille, Abed, a 66-year-old retiree, said she feared violence after the results were announced. "It's so tense, people are going crazy."

In the Paris suburb of Conflans Sainte-Honorine, Griesard, a retiree, said: "The country is facing three very different social views. There's the far-right; There is Macronism, which I think is also dangerous and has authoritarian tendencies; And the left wing, and the left wing is no good either."

Khuzan, an engineer who voted for a coalition of parties led by Macron, said: "Our country is going through a serious crisis and we are only hours away from a new order. The country could become ungovernable."

France's business elite is equally anxious about future political turmoil and instability.

McGinnis, chairman of the aerospace company Safran, said: "We are very worried that something is going to happen. Whatever the political landscape emerges from Sunday's vote, we may be at the end of a reform cycle that began 10 years ago."

After losing the European Parliament elections in June, President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly and called a snap election.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen's National Alliance won the most votes in the first round of voting on June 30 and is expected to do so again in the second.

However, the National Alliance may not win a majority of seats. A hung parliament, along with the prospect of a more Eurosceptic and anti-immigrant parliament, could weaken France's international standing and threaten Western unity over Russia's aggression in Ukraine.