Voters in the French archipelago of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, off the coast of Canada, were the first to cast their ballots in France's landmark referendum on the EU constitution gan Saturday, with a lrelatively high turnout of 39 percent.
The opening of polling stations in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, located off the south coast of Newfoundland, marked the start of the voting process that will end on the mainland late Sunday.
The 6,600 inhabitants of the archipelago had previously all but ignored votes on European issues.
The 39.17 percent turnout on Saturday, though low by French standards, was much higher than the 10 percent of electors who turned out to vote on the Maastricht treaty in 1992, or the 20 percent who voted in the 2004 European elections.
This time round the chance to be the first people on French soil to vote on the draft EU constitution brought people out to the ballot boxes despite a thick fog.
One voter, Alexis said that while Europe was a long way away, "it is the duty of a European citizen to take part in a process which he judges to be historic and decisive".
Opinion polls predict an overall victory for opponents of the EU treaty, which is aimed at streamlining decision-making in the expanded European Union.