Hong Kong's burgeoning French community today turns its attentions to its homeland, with thousands expected to vote in the country's presidential election.
Four polling stations have been set up to cater for the 6,280 French voters in the city, out of a population of more than 10,000 expatriates registered at the French consulate.
The race pits President Nicolas Sarkozy against Socialist rival Francois Hollande, who has a small lead in the polls, and eight other candidates all vying for a place in a run-off poll involving the top two candidates.
Around one million of the two million French people living abroad are eligible to vote and, with the race expected to be close, they could have a decisive impact on the poll.
Opinion polls give Sarkozy and Hollande about 27 per cent of the vote each. But the two mainstream candidates are threatened from both sides of the spectrum: Marine Le Pen, from the extreme-right National Front, is expected to gather 17 per cent of the votes, while Jean-Luc Melenchon, representing the radical left, could get up to 14 per cent, polls say.
For Adrien Choux, living thousands of kilometres away from one's mother country is no reason not to take an active part in its political life.
