More Info:
At Stake in this Election
- 577 seats in the National Assembly (Assemblée nationale) of the French Republic
Government Structure:
- Chief of State: President Emmanuel MACRON (since 14 May 2017)
- Head of Government: Prime Minister Élisabeth BORNE (since 16 May 2022)
- Assembly: The French Parliament (Parlement français) is a bicameral legislature consisting of an indirectly elected upper house, the Senate (Sénat), and a lower chamber, the National Assembly (Assemblée nationale).
Electoral System:
- The National Assembly (Assemblée nationale) consists of 577 members: 556 for metropolitan France, 10 for overseas departments, and 11 for French citizens residing abroad. Members are directly elected using a single-member majoritarian system, which occurs in two rounds. A candidate may win their seat in the first round if they win an absolute majority, under the condition that this number is equal to or greater than a quarter of registered voters in their constituency. Candidates are eligible for a second round of voting should they have obtained a vote share equal to at least 12.5% of the total number of registered voters. If only one candidate meets this benchmark, then the candidate with the second highest vote share qualifies for the second round of voting.[1]
- The 348 seats in the Senate (Sénat) are determined through indirect election and serve for six years. Using a mixed system of voting, senators are elected through indirect universal suffrage by electoral colleges. A two-round, first-past-the-post method is applied to the 70 metropolitan and overseas departments that fill one-three senatorial seats. Proportional representation is applied to the remaining 39 metropolitan and overseas departments filling four or more senatorial seats.[2]
- The President of the Republic is elected for a five-year term using a two-round system. If a candidate fails to receive a majority of the ballot during the first round of voting, a second round is held between the two candidates who received the most votes to determine the winner.[3]
- The Prime Minister is appointed by the President of the Republic.[4]
Last Election:
- The first round of legislative elections was held on 12 June 2022.[5]
Main Parties in this Election:
- Alliance: Ensemble*
- Leader: Richard FERRAND
- Seats won in 2018 election: New (constituent parties secured 356 seats)
- Percentage of vote won in first round: 25.75
- Alliance: Union of the Right and the Center (UDC) / l’Union de la droite et du centre**
- Leader: Christian JACOB
- Seats won in 2018 election: 135 (includes all aligned parties)
- Percentage of vote won in first round: 11.29
- Alliance: New People’s Ecological and Social Union (NUPES) / Nouvelle union populaire écologique et sociale***
- Leader: Jean-Luc MÉLENCHON
- Seats won in 2018 election: New (constituent parties secured 68 seats)
- Percentage of vote won in first round: 25.26
- Party: National Rally (RN) / Rassemblement national
- Leader: Marine LE PEN
- Seats won in 2018 election: 8
- Percentage of vote won in first round: 18.68
*The main parties which constitute Ensemble are the following:
- Party: Renaissance (formerly Republic on the Move) / Renaissance (formerly La République En Marche! Often shortened to En Marche!, LREM, LaREM, REM)
- Leader: Stanislas GUERINI
- Seats won in 2018 election: 308
- Party: Democratic Movement (MoDem) / Mouvement démocrate
- Leader: François BAYROU
- Seats won in 2018 election: 42
- Party: Horizons
- Leader: Édouard PHILIPPE
- Seats won in 2018 election: New
**The main parties which constitute the Union of the Right and the Center (l’Union de la droite et du centre) are the following:
- Party: The Republicans / Les Républicains
- Leader: Stanislas GUERINI
- Seats won in 2018 election: 112
- Party: Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI) / Union des démocrates et indépendants
- Leader: Jean-Christophe LEGARDE
- Seats won in 2018 election: 18
***The main parties which constitute the Union of the Right and the Center (l’Union de la droite et du centre) are the following:
- Party: Unsubmissive France (FI, LFI) / La France Insoumise
- Leader: Jean-Luc MÉLENCHON
- Seats won in 2018 election: 17
- Party: Socialist Party (PS) / Parti socialiste
- Leader: Olivier FAURE
- Seats won in 2018 election: 30
- Party: French Communist Party (PCF) / Parti communiste français
- Leader: Fabien ROUSSEL
- Seats won in 2018 election: 10
- Party: Europe Ecology – The Greens (EELV) / Europe Écologie Les Verts
- Leader : Julien BAYOU
- Seats won in 2018 election: 0
Population and Registered Voters:
Gender Data:
- Female Population: 34,621,892 (2020 est.)[8]
- Is France a signatory to CEDAW: yes (signed 17 July 1980)[9]
- Has France ratified CEDAW: Yes (ratified 14 December 1983)[10]
- Gender Quota: For the directly elected National Assembly (Assemblée nationale), the difference between the number of candidates of each sex presented by a party within France’s 577 single-member constituencies cannot exceed two percent.[11]
- Female candidates in this election: 2,779 out of 6,293[12]
- Number of Female Legislators: 228 out of 577 (40 percent) in the National Assembly (Assemblée nationale)[13]
- Human Development Index (HDI) Position: Rank 26 at 0.901 (2020)[14]
- Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Very low[15]
Disability Data:
- Is France a signatory to CRPD: Yes (signed on 30 March 2007)[16]
- Has France ratified CRPD: Yes (ratified on 18 February 2010)[17]
- Estimated population with a disability: 9,422,135 (2022 est.)[18]