The French in France's Saint-Pierre and Miquelon islands off Canada's eastern coast began to vote in a referendum on the EU constitution at 8:00 am (1000 GMT) Saturday.

Voters on the Saint-Pierre and Miquelon islands are the first overseas French to give their opinion on the EU constitution.

Other French overseas territories voting in the day included Martinique and Guadeloupe in the Caribbean, and Tahiti and New Caledonia in the South Pacific. Voters in France will cast their vote in 64,700 stations between 8:00 and 22:00 time of Paris on Sunday. According to the Paris town hall, 1.5 ton of ballots are prepared.

The measure to allow overseas voters to go to polls ahead of the mainland was taken in 2004 in order that they would not be swayed by voting results in France.

Campaign for the referendum ended at midnight Friday. The latest survey Friday night showed a drop in the size of the "no" camp, but it was still larger than the "yes" camp, by 52 percent to 48 percent.

Supporters say rejection would kill the constitution and weaken France in Europe. Opponents say a "no" vote would force the EU to redraft the treaty and improve it.

The EU constitution requires the approval of all 25 EU members to go into force.

On Friday, Germany became the ninth EU member state to ratify the constitution after Austria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has called on the French to back the treaty.

Source: Xinhua