France: Political forces at a glance
- Content Type
- Country Data and Maps
- Institution
- Economist Intelligence Unit
- Abstract
- No abstract is available.
- Topic
- Politics, Summary, Background, Political forces at a glance
- Political Geography
- France
Political outlook: Political forces at a glance
France is a democratic republic with an unusual, hybrid system of government. The president, who is directly elected, wields huge power when parties loyal to him command a majority in the National Assembly (the lower house and the more important of the two parliamentary chambers). In 2002 the presidential and parliamentary terms were aligned to reduce the likelihood of the president being forced into "cohabitation" with a government not of his choosing. The 2017 presidential and parliamentary elections resulted in a significant reshaping of the political landscape, with the two biggest mainstream parties, the centre-left Parti socialiste (PS) and the centre-right Les Républicains, losing their former dominance among voters. The presidential majority in the National Assembly now consists of La République en marche (LRM), the party of the president, Emmanuel Macron, and its centrist ally, Mouvement démocrate (MoDem).
General election, June 2017 Party % of vote a National Assembly seats Total left Parti communiste français 1.2 10 La France insoumise 4.9 17 Parti socialiste (PS) 5.7 30 Parti radical de gauche (PRG) 0.4 3 Other left 1.5 12 Ecologiste 0.1 1 Others 0.6 3 Regional parties 0.8 5 Presidential majority La République en marche (LRM) 43.1 308 Mouvement démocrate (MoDem) 6.1 42 Total right Union des démocrates et indépendants (UDI) 3.0 18 Les Républicains 22.2 112 Other right 1.7 6 Debout la France 0.1 1 Front national (FN) 8.8 8 Other far-right 0.1 1 Total 100.0 577 a Share of votes cast in the second round on June 18th. The first round was held on June 11th.Source: Ministry of the Interior. Download the numbers in Excel
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