PARIS, May 30 (Xinhuanet) -- French voters rejected the European Union constitution in a referendum held on Sunday, with 54.87 percent saying "No" and 45.13 percent saying "Yes" to the charter, final results released by the Interior Ministry said on Monday.

    A total of 15,422,659 people voted against the charter, while 12,686,732 people voted "yes", with an abstention rate of 30.26 percent, the ministry said in a statement.

    Generally, "we observe important variation from one department to another, with a more expressed preference for the 'no' in the countryside, compared with the urban areas," said French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin. Enditem