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e indirect election took place from 2 to 10 September 1792 after the election of the electoral colleges by primary assemblies on 26 August. Owing to the abstention of royalists,[clarification needed] the anti-republicans, and the fear of victimization the voter turnout in the departments was low â€" 11.9% of the electorate came, compared to 10.2% in the 1791 elections â€" in spite of the fact that the number of those eligible to vote had doubled.[clarification needed] Therefore, the quasi-universal male suffrage had very little impact. The electorate returned the same sort of men that the active citizens had chosen in 1791. In the whole of France, only eleven primary assemblies wanted to retain the monarchy. Of the electoral assemblies, all tacitly voted for a republic â€" though only Paris used the word. None of the deputies stood as a royalist for elections. Out of the five million Frenchmen able to vote, only a million showed up at the polls.[clarification needed][note 1] On 20 September the Convention held its first session in the "Salle des Cent-Suisses", the next day it moved to the Salle du Manège, with little room for the public and a bad acoustic. From 10 May 1793 it met in the Salle des Machines, an immense hall in which the deputies were loosely scattered. The Salle des Machines had galleries for the public who often influenced the debates with interruptions or applause. [note 2] The members of the Convention came from all classes of society, but the most numerous were lawyers. 75 members had sat in the National Constituent Assembly, 183 in the Legislative Assembly. The full number of deputies was 749, not counting 33 from the French colonies, of whom only some arrived in Paris in time. Thomas Paine and Anacharsis Cloots were appointed in the Convention by Girondins. Besides these, however, the newly formed départements annexed to France from 1782 to 1789 were allowed to send deputations. According to its own ruling, the Convention elected its President every fortnight, and the outgoing President was eligible for re-election after the lapse of a fortnight. Ordinarily, the sessions were held in the morning, but evening sessions also occurred frequently, often extending late into the night. Sometimes in exceptional circumstances, the Convention declared itself in permanent session and sat for several days without interruption. For both legislative and administrative the Convention used committees, with powers more or less widely extend