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Elections in France

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France is a representative democracy. Public officials in the legislative and executive branches are either elected by the citizens (directly or indirectly), or appointed by elected officials. On some occasions the French citizenry also is consulted in referendums.

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[edit] Generalities

France elects on its national level a head of state - the president - and a legislature:

  • The president is elected for a five-year term (previously, seven years), directly by the citizens. The Parliament (Parlement) has two chambers.
  • The National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) has 577 members, elected for a five-year term in single seat-constituencies directly by the citizens.
  • The Senate (Sénat) has 321 members, 304 of which are elected for six-year terms by an electoral college consisting of elected representatives from each département, five of which are elected from other dependencies, and 12 of which are elected by the High Council of French Citizens Living Abroad (Conseil Supérieur des Français de l'Étranger) a 150-member assembly elected by citizens living abroad.

See Government of France for more details about these political structures.

In addition, French citizens elect a variety of local governments. There also are public elections for some non-political positions, such as those for the judges of courts administering labor law (tribunaux de prud'hommes), elected by workers and employers, or those for judges administering cases of rural land leases.

France does not have a full-fledged two-party system; that is, a system where, though many political parties exist, only two parties have a chance of getting elected to major positions. However French politics display some tendencies characterizing a two-party system, in which power alternates between relatively stable coalitions, each being led by a major party: on the left, the French Socialist Party, on the right, the UMP and its predecessors. See politics of France for more details.

[edit] Voters

The voters are French citizens over the age of 18 registered on the electoral rolls. For municipal and European elections, citizens aged 18 or older of other European Union countries may decide to vote in France. Registration is not compulsory, but the absence of registration precludes the possibility of voting. Currently, all youths reaching the age of 18 are automatically registered.

Citizens may register either in their place of residence or in a place where they have been on the roll of taxpayers for local taxes for at least 5 years. A citizen may not be legally registered in more than one place. Citizens living abroad may register at the consulate responsible for the region in which they live.

Only citizens legally registered as voters can run for public office.

There are exceptions to the above rules. Convicted criminals may be deprived of their civic rights, which include the right to vote, for a certain period of time depending on the crime. In particular, elected officials who have abused public funds may be deprived of the right to run for national public office for as long as 10 years. The application of such rules in the case of certain politicians has been controversial; see for instance the case of Alain Juppé.


[edit] Latest election

[edit] Presidential

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 21 April and 5 May 2002 French presidential election results
Candidates Nominating parties Votes 1st round % Votes 2nd round %
Jacques Chirac Rally for the Republic (Rassemblement pour la République) 5,666,440 19.88% 25,540,873 82.21%
Jean-Marie Le Pen National Front (Front national) 4,805,307 16.86% 5,525,906 17.79%
Lionel Jospin Socialist Party (Parti socialiste) 4,610,749 16.18%
François Bayrou Union for French Democracy (Union pour la démocratie française) 1,949,436 6.84%
Arlette Laguiller Workers' Struggle (Lutte ouvrière) 1,630,244 5.72%
Jean-Pierre Chevènement Citizens' Movement (Mouvement des citoyens) 1,518,901 5.33%
Noël Mamère The Greens (Les verts) 1,495,901 5.25%
Olivier Besancenot Revolutionary Communist League (Ligue communiste révolutionnaire) 1,210,694 4.25%
Jean Saint-Josse Hunt, Fish, Nature, Traditions (Chasse, pêche, nature, traditions) 1,204,863 4.23%
Alain Madelin Liberal Democracy (Démocratie libérale) 1,113,709 3.91%
Robert Hue French Communist Party (Parti communiste français) 960,757 3.37%
Bruno Mégret National Republican Movement (Mouvement national républicain) 667,123 2.34%
Christiane Taubira Left Radical Party (Parti radical de gauche) 660,576 2.32%
Corinne Lepage Citizenship, Action, Participation for the XXIst Century (Citoyenneté action participation pour le XXIe siècle) 535,911 1.88%
Christine Boutin Forum of Social Republicans (Forum des républicains sociaux) 339,142 1.19%
Daniel Gluckstein Party of the Workers (Parti des travailleurs) 132,702 0.47%
Total (turnout 71.6 %) 28,502,455 100.0 31,066,779 100.0
Source: Yahoo France and Rulers.
Main article: French presidential election, 2002

[edit] Legislative

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 9 and 16 June 2002 French National Assembly election results
Parties and coalitions Abbr. Votes (1st round) % (1st round) Seats (2nd round)
Union for the presidential majority (Union pour la majorite presidentielle) UMP 8 408 023 33.3 357
Union for French Democracy (Union pour la démocracie française) UDF 1 226 462 4.9 29
Miscellaneous Right-wing DVD 921 973 3.7 8
Movement for France (Mouvement pour la France) MPF 202 831 0.8 1
Liberal Democracy (Démocratie libérale) DL 104 767 0.4 2
Rally for France (Rassemblement pour la France) RPF 94 222 0.4 2
Total "Presidential Majority" (Right) 10 958 278 43.4 399
Socialist Party (Parti socialiste) PS 6 086 599 24.1 141
French Communist Party (Parti communiste français) PCF 1 216 178 4.8 21
The Greens (Les Verts) 1 138 222 4.5 3
Left Radical Party (Parti radical de gauche) PRG 388 891 1.5 7
Miscellaneous Left-wing DVG 275 533 1.1 6
Total "United Left" 9 105 443 36.1 178
National Front (Front national) FN 2 862 960 11.3 -
Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Traditions (Chasse, pêche, nature, traditions) CPNT 422 448 1.7 -
Revolutionary Communist League (Ligue communiste révolutionnaire) LCR 320 467 1.3 -
Workers' Struggle (Lutte ouvrière) LO 301 984 1.2 -
Republican Pole (Pôle républicain) 299 897 1.2 -
Other Ecologists 295 899 1.2 -
National Republican Movement (Mouvement national républicain) MNR 276 376 1.1 -
Miscellaneous 194 946 0.8 -
Other Far-Left 81 558 0.3 -
Regionalists 66 240 0.3 -
Other Far-right 59 549 0.2 -
Total 25 252 045 100 577
Abstention: 35.6% (1st round), 39.6% (2nd round)
Main article: French legislative election, 2002

[edit] Past elections

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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