High turnout at French conservative primaries, organiser says

PARIS (Reuters) - Voter turnout in France's first ever conservative presidential primary election was high on Sunday, topping 2.5 million by 5 pm (1600 GMT), the election's organiser Thierry Solere told reporters. That figure included numbers reported by 70 percent of the 10,228 polling stations across the country, he said, calling it a "considerable turnout". A Reuters reporter saw long queues at Paris polling booths after 5 pm. Polling stations will be open until 7 pm (1800 GMT). In the Socialist primary of 2012, 2.6 million voters took part. (Reporting by Andrew Callus and Ingrid Melander)