Elections in France

Electoral system
The various elections
The various voting systems
Developments in French electoral law
For further information

 

Electoral system

Some principles

  Suffrage is universal: the right to vote belongs to all citizens old enough to vote.
  Voting is strictly personal.
  Voting is free.
  Voting is secret: no one may seek to know or to control the vote cast by any citizen. Practical arrangements are made in polling stations to protect the freedom and secrecy of the vote. The most important of these is that voters must pass through the polling booth where, unobserved, the voter places in an envelope the ballot paper of his/her choice. S/he then places it in the transparent ballot box and signs opposite his/her name on the electoral roll.

Being a voter

To be entitled to vote, one must be a French national, at least 18 years old, and enjoying one’s civil and political rights. Furthermore, the right to vote is subject to registration on an electoral roll. A derogation from the nationality principle was introduced under the Maastricht Treaty, ratified in September 1992. EU nationals now have the right to vote in European and municipal elections provided they are registered on supplementary electoral rolls.

Eligibility

Eligibility means being able to stand for election. To be able to stand for election, one must first of all be a voter and a French national, but there may be specific conditions according to the particular poll, notably those relating to the personal link between the candidate and the community.

The age requirement also varies with the election:
  18 years of age for municipal, cantonal and regional elections;
  23 for presidential and general elections;
  30 for elections to the Senate.

The nationality condition is broadened for municipal elections and European elections, where the candidate may be a national of any European Union member State.

The various elections

Presidential elections

Under the Fifth Republic and since the constitutional revision of 6 November 1962 approved by the referendum of 28 October 1962, the President of the Republic has been elected by direct universal suffrage. The referendum of 24 September 2000 put an end to the principle of a seven-year term instituted under the Third Republic. The presidential term is now five years, renewable.

The polling method used in presidential elections is the "scrutin uninominal majoritaire à deux tours", literally a two-round single name first-past-the-post poll.
  However, a candidate may in fact be elected in the first round if s/he obtains an absolute majority of the votes cast.
  If no candidate achieves this in the first round, a second round takes place two weeks later. Since the person elected has to obtain the majority of votes cast, as provided by the Constitution (article 7), only two candidates may go forward to this second round: the two highest-scoring candidates in the first round.

A candidate is eligible only if s/he is sponsored by at least 500 citizens holding elective office as defined by the institutional Act. The candidature is accepted only if the 500 sponsors include elected representatives from at least 30 French-administered territories outside Europe, no more than 10% of whom may be from just one of them. The Constitutional Council publishes the names and offices of the signatories.

Since the institutional Act of 11 March 1988 relating to the financial transparency of political life, candidates have had to submit to the Constitutional Council a declaration of their estate and an undertaking to file a new declaration at the end of their term of office. After the election, the Constitutional Council publishes only the elected candidate’s declaration. After checking all the admissibility requirements, the Constitutional Council draws up the list of candidates.

General elections

General elections are the means of electing deputies to the National Assembly. There are 577 deputies, who are elected by direct universal suffrage for a five-year renewable term unless the National Assembly is dissolved prematurely (article 24 of the Constitution).

Since 1958, the National Assembly has been dissolved five times: in 1962, 1968, 1981, 1988 and 1997. It may not be dissolved again in the year following such a general election. Voting is by constituencies, each corresponding to one seat.

The polling method used in general elections is the "scrutin majoritaire à deux tours", literally a two-round, first-past-the-post poll.

However, a candidate may in fact be elected in the first round if, in it, s/he obtains the absolute majority of votes cast and a number of votes equal to one quarter of the registered voters;

To stand in the second round, a candidate must have obtained a number of votes equal to at least 12.5% of the registered voters. In this round, the highest-scoring candidate is elected (first past the post) and in the case of a tie the older of the candidates is elected.

The Fifth Republic introduced a new rule of incompatibility between ministerial office and the parliamentary mandate. This measure necessitated the institution of a substitute to stand in for a deputy appointed to serve in the government. The office of deputy is also incompatible with that of senator or MEP.

Elections to the Senate

The Senate is today composed of 331 senators, one third of whom are subject to re-election every three years. Act No. 2003-696 reforming the method of electing senators provides for a gradual increase in the number of senators to 341 in 2008 and 346 in 2011. From 2011, half - and no longer a third - of the senators will be subject to re-election every three years.

Senators are elected for a six-year term.

Senators are elected by an electoral college of around 150,000 "grands électeurs", i.e. deputies, members of general councils (the decision-making body of departments), regional councils and municipal councils, with municipal councillors making up around 95% of the college.

They are elected by indirect universal suffrage by the electoral college in one of two ways depending on the number of senatorial seats allocated to the department concerned;
  by a two-round first-past-the-post poll in the 70 metropolitan and overseas departments, New Caledonia and French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna Islands, Mayotte and St Pierre and Miquelon which return three or fewer senators;
  by proportional representation using the highest averages system (see explanation in section entitled "Proportional representation") in the 30 metropolitan and overseas departments which return four or more senators.

12 senators representing the around 2,000,000 French nationals living outside France are elected by proportional representation by the 155 members of the electoral college of the Assemblée des Français à l’étranger (organization of French people living abroad).

The senate election is the only one in France where voting is compulsory for the members of the electoral college.

European elections

The European Parliament is composed of representatives of the peoples of the European Union member States, elected by direct universal suffrage for a renewable five-year term. The Council of Ministers of the European Union determines the date of elections. The actual date of the poll is then set by each member State and must fall within a period from the Thursday morning to the Sunday immediately following it.

For the life of the current parliament (2004-2009), European voters elected 732 MEPs in 25 EU member States. France has 78 seats. With Romania and Bulgaria’s accession on 1 January 2007, the ceiling of 732 MEPs laid down by the Nice Treaty has temporarily been exceeded and there are currently 785 MEPs. After the 2009 European elections, the total number of MEPs will be 736, of whom 72 will be returned for French constituencies.

At national level, the election takes place in a single ballot and is by proportional representation with closed lists containing an equal number of men and women, and distribution of remainders according to the highest-average method between lists which have won at least 5% of the votes cast. Since 2004, France has had eight extended constituencies covering more than one region except Ile de France, which forms a single constituency.

The referendum

The referendum, provided for in articles 11 and 89 of the Constitution of 4 October 1958, is the exceptional procedure whereby citizens are called upon to express their view directly by voting on an institutional or ordinary Bill or on a draft revision of the Constitution by replying “yes” or “no” to a question put to them.

A referendum may be “constituent”, where it pertains to a draft revision of the Constitution. It may be “legislative”, i.e. pertain to a piece of legislation, although Bills put to a referendum are limited to specific fields: organization of public authorities, or reforms relating to the economic or social policy of the nation and to the public services contributing thereto, or a Bill which provides for authorization to ratify a treaty that, although not contrary to the Constitution, would affect the functioning of the institutions. The government consults the Constitutional Council on the organization of referendums and declares the results of the referendum. The referendum takes place in a single round. To be adopted by the French people, a Bill must receive a majority of affirmative votes.

Regional elections

The purpose of regional elections is to elect the members of the regional councils, the region’s decision-making organ. The method of electing regional councillors was altered by the Acts of 19 January 1999 and 11 April 2003. The Act of 11 April 2003 brought in for these elections of a system combining the first-past-the-post and proportional representation systems. In the first round, the list which has achieved the absolute majority obtains the majority of the seats. The rest of the seats are distributed according to the proportional system between lists which have obtained at least 5% of the votes. If no list has obtained the absolute majority, a second round is organized. Only lists which have won 10% of the votes in the first round can stand. The list which wins the most votes obtains a quarter of the seats. The remaining seats are distributed using the proportional system between the lists which have won at least 5% of the votes.

Regional councillors are elected for six years.

Cantonal elections

The canton was created by the Act of 22 December 1789. Each constitutes an electoral constituency which returns a member of the general council. Members of the general council are elected for six years by direct universal suffrage. Half these seats are up for re-election every three years, and incumbents may serve more than one term. The principle of partial renewal was introduced by the Act of 10 August 1871.

General councils are elected using the single-name, first-past-the-post, two-round system.
  However, as in other "two-round" elections, a candidate is elected in the first round if s/he obtains the absolute majority of votes cast and the support of a quarter of the registered voters.
  The second round takes place a week later. To stand in this second round, candidates have to have obtained a number of votes at least equal to 10% of registered voters. If no candidate reaches this threshold [it is rare, but arithmetically possible if there is a very large number of candidates] or if only one candidate does so, the two highest scorers in the first round go forward to the second.

Municipal elections

The members of municipal councils, the decision-making body of the commune, which is the lowest tier of the French administrative hierarchy, are elected by direct universal suffrage for a renewable six-year term. The method of voting used in these elections is not the same throughout France. It varies depending on the size of the population of the commune in question.

  Communes with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants: municipal councillors (9 to 23) are elected by the first-past-the-post system. In the first round, an absolute majority is required, plus the support of a quarter of the registered voters. In the second round, the top-scoring candidates are elected.

Voters are given ballot papers with lists of candidates representing the different parties (except for communes with fewer than 2,500 people where stand-alone candidates and incomplete lists are allowed). They can vote for candidates from a single list or from different lists. Each individual candidate’s votes are counted.

  Communes with 3,500 or more inhabitants: here a two-ballot list system is used to elect councillors (27 to 163). Voters are given ballot papers with complete lists of candidates representing the different parties and have to vote for a single list; they cannot delete or add names or change the order of candidates on a list. If a list obtains the absolute majority in the first round, it is awarded a number of seats equal to half the seats to be filled. The other seats are distributed between all the lists by proportional representation using the highest averages system (see explanation in section entitled "Proportional representation"). Otherwise a second round is held. Only lists which have obtained 10% of the votes cast may go forward to the second round. The list which obtains the most votes is awarded a number of seats equal to half the seats to be filled. The other seats are distributed among all the lists by proportional representation using the highest averages system.

  The special regimes of Paris, Marseille and Lyon: here the elections are by sector. In Paris and Lyon, each arrondissement (district) forms a sector. Marseille has eight sectors, each with two districts. The seats of members of the Paris council and Marseille and Lyon municipal councils are allocated on the basis of the results obtained by sector and according to the same rules as for communes of 3,500 or more inhabitants. District councillors are, moreover, elected at the same time as the members of the Paris council and the Marseille and Lyon municipal councils. District councillor seats are distributed among the lists according to the same rules as for communes of 3,500 or more inhabitants.

The mayor is elected by the municipal council, which meets:
  for communes of fewer than 3,500 inhabitants no sooner than the Wednesday, and for communes of 3,500 or more no sooner than the Friday following the day of the council elections, and in any event no later than the Sunday.

To be elected mayor, a candidate must obtain the absolute majority of votes cast in the first or second round. If after two rounds no candidate has obtained this, a third round takes place and the candidate with the most votes is elected. After the election of the mayor, the municipal council meets to decide the number of deputy councillors (a maximum of 30% of the statutory membership of the municipal council), and then elects them.

The various voting systems

First-past-the-post (known in French as "scrutin majoritaire")

The first-past-the-post system is simple. The candidate or candidates obtaining the highest number of the votes cast is/are elected. So the task of representing a whole constituency is entrusted to the candidates who come first, without regard to the votes obtained by their rivals. The ballot may be "uninominal" (single name) if there is one seat to be filled per constituency. The voters then vote for a single candidate. France is divided into as many constituencies as there are seats to be filled.

The ballot is "plurinominal" if there is more than one seat to fill per constituency. The voters vote for a number of candidates who may stand alone or on lists: in the latter case, the term used is list voting. The lists are said to be closed if the number of candidates listed is required to be equal to the number of seats to be filled, and if the voters are unable to change either the names on the list or the order in which they appear. To introduce a certain flexibility, voting for candidates from more than one party or preferential voting is sometimes allowed. Voting for candidates from more than one party allows voters to cross out names on the list for which they are voting and replace them with those of candidates appearing on other lists. Preferential voting gives voters a chance to classify the candidates on the same list according to their preferences.

In single-round first-past-the-post systems, the result is produced in the first round whatever the percentage of votes obtained by the candidates, or list, coming first. It is not used in France.

In two-round first-past-the-post systems, an absolute majority of the votes cast is generally required in order to be elected in the first round. Otherwise there is a runoff and the organization of a second round at the end of which the top-scoring candidate (or list) is elected whatever the percentage of votes obtained. Standing in the second round may be subject to certain conditions: for example, obtaining the support of a certain percentage of registered voters or of the votes cast in the first round.

Proportional representation

Proportional representation is a system of list voting generally in a single round. The seats to be filled in a constituency are distributed among the various lists in proportion to the number of votes they have obtained. To be able to participate in the distribution of seats, the lists must generally attain a certain percentage of the votes cast. The calculation then follows in two stages.

The initial allocation is done on the basis of an electoral quotient which may be determined in advance (fixed quotient), or - as most frequently happens in France - may be calculated by dividing the total number of votes cast in the constituency by the number of seats to be filled. This quotient is equal to the number of votes needed to secure a seat. In the first stage, each list gets as many seats as the number of times it has attained the electoral quotient. But this initial distribution leaves a residue, i.e. seats not yet filled. The remaining seats may be distributed either by the largest remainder, or by the highest averages method.

Distribution “by the largest remainder” means that, in each constituency, the non-allocated seats are allocated to each list according to the decreasing order of votes unused after the initial distribution. This method favours small parties, notably those which have fallen just short of the electoral quotient and have large remainders. Distribution “by the highest averages” means calculating for each list what would be the average of votes obtained per seat allocated if each one were hypothetically granted an extra seat. The list which obtains the highest average gets a seat. The operation is repeated as many times as there are still seats to be filled. Once the number of seats allocated to each list is known, the next step is to determine which candidates will get them. The general procedure is to follow the order in which they appear on the list.

Hybrid systems

Hybrid systems combine the rules of first-past-the-post and proportional voting. Since 1982, municipal elections in communes of more than 3,500 inhabitants have employed a hybrid system introducing a proportional mechanism into a mainly first-past-the-post ballot. In 2004, a similar system was applied to the regional elections.

Developments in French electoral law

Gender parity

France was the first country to legislate for gender parity in political life. The Act of 6 June 2000 promotes equal access for men and women to electoral mandates and elective offices. It was applied for the first time in the March 2001 municipal elections. The Act has two main provisions.

The first is to make the principle of gender equality mandatory for all elections based on lists. The principle is applied in two different ways:
  either every list is drawn up by alternating male and female candidates (elections to the Senate and European elections);
  or the lists have to be divided, from top to bottom, into blocks of six candidates of whom three must be women (municipal elections in communes of more than 3,500 inhabitants, regional elections and elections to the territorial assembly of Corsica).

The second provision adjusts the public subsidy paid to political parties to the gap between the number of men and the number of women fielded by each party in parliamentary elections, penalizing parties which do not field enough female candidates.

Elections not affected by either provision of the Act of 6 June 2000 are uninominal ballots, municipal elections in communes with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants, cantonal elections and elections to the senate in departments which have one or two senators.

Concurrent holding of more than one electoral mandate

Here we have the second major development in French electoral law, one designed to ensure that elected representatives are able to devote themselves fully to their duties. The three main pieces of legislation are: the two Acts of 2000, Act No. 2000-294 relating to incompatibilities between electoral mandates and Act No. 2000-295 relating to limitations on the concurrent holding of electoral mandates and elective offices, and, finally,
Act No. 2003-327 of April 2003 on the election of regional councillors and MEPs. The main incompatibilities concern:
  concurrent holding of the mandate of deputy and senator (art. 137),
  concurrent holding of the mandate of senator or deputy and being an MEP (art. L.O. 137-1);
  concurrent holding of a national mandate with the exercise of more than one of the following local mandates: member of a regional council, of the Corsican Assembly, a general council, the Paris council or the municipal council of a commune with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants (Art. L.O. 141);
  concurrent holding of more than two of the following local mandates: member of a regional council, of the Corsican Assembly, a general council or the Paris council;
  concurrent holding of local executive offices such as chairman of a regional council, chairman of a general council and mayor.

Act No. 2003-327 of 11 April 2003 authorizes the concurrent holding of the mandate of MEP and exercise of one of the following local executive offices: chairman of a regional council, chairman of a general council or mayor.

The terms and conditions for removing the incompatibilities vary according to the mandates. Deputies and senators are allowed to choose which mandate to resign from, or if no choice is made, their most recent mandate is terminated. Local councillors and MEPs are obliged to relinquish the longest-standing mandates.

For further information

(in French):

  Elections page of the Interior Ministry

  Elections section on the Documentation française Vie publique page