Voter turnout in the first round of French presidential elections on Sunday stood at 75,11% at 5 pm local time, three hours before the last polling stations were due to close in continental France, daily Le Monde reported.
The figure is already higher than the 73,87% registered at the same time in the first round of the presidential polls.
Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time in continental France and will close at 6 p.m. in rural regions and 8 p.m. in the big cities.
Close to 44,5 million French voters are eligible to cast their ballots on Sunday, another record.
More than 1 million French nationals overseas have already voted a day before polls open in mainland France.
Centre-right candidate Nicolas Sarkozy, the former finance and interior minister, running on a platform that focuses on reforming the floundering French social model, cutting taxes and pushing free-market reforms, is the front-runner.
Socialist candidate Segolene Royal is close on his heels, offering to reverse some of the reforms passed during Chirac's two terms in office, as well as raising the minimum wage.
Whichever one wins will have make some tough decisions about a wide range of issues where change is needed in order to revive a divided society and stagnating economy.