Voting for EU's first Constitution begins in France

Voters in France faced a historic choice on Sunday as they cast ballots in a referendum on the European Union's first Constitution -- a historic charter that was designed to pull nations together, but has bitterly divided citizens in the cradle of continental unity.

Nearly 42 million voters were eligible to cast ballots in the pivotal vote on the charter, which all polls in the last two weeks indicate the French will be the first in Europe to reject.

The Constitution must be ratified by all 25 EU member states before it can take effect in 2006.

Polling stations opened at 8 am and were to close at 8 pm, except in the cities of Paris and Lyon -- huge population centres -- where voting will end at 10 pm.

The first exit poll results were expected by 10 pm.

About 1.5 million voters in France's overseas territories -- from the Caribbean to Polynesia -- cast their ballots on Saturday, with the results to be kept under wraps until the end of voting in mainland France.

The French traditionally tend to vote late rather than early, and there was no one in line at a polling station near the site where the Bastille prison -- stormed at the start of the French Revolution -- once stood in central Paris.

Across the Seine river, the streets and sidewalks in the Left Bank neighborhood of Montparnasse were covered with flyers pushing for a 'yes' vote.