Participation rate up at midday in second round of French centre-right presidential primaries

Ballots with the names of Alain Juppe and Francois Fillon, members of the conservative Les Republicains political party, are seen at a polling station during the second round of the French center-right presidential primary election in Bordeaux, France, November 27, 2016. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

PARIS (Reuters) - The number of voters taking part in Sunday's second round of France's centre-right primaries for next year's presidential election was 10-15 percent higher than the first round at around noon local time (1100 GMT), the organiser of the vote said. Thierry Solere, president of the committee organising the Les Republicains party vote, told BFM TV that the figures showed that 1.27 million votes had been cast, according to a count of 67 percent of polling stations in the country. "It marks a rise of between 10-15 percent," said Solere. Some 4.4 million people had voted by the time polls closed last Sunday. Former prime minister Francois Fillon won the first round, putting him in pole position to beat Alain Juppe - another former prime minister and current mayor of Bordeaux - and become the centre-right Les Republicains presidential candidate. (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Andrew Callus)