Video: How do French Legislative Elections Work?

 

 

Legislative elections in France are not organized at a national level like the presidentials - but by constituency. There are 577 in France, who each send an MP to the National Assembly.

The voting system is uni-nominal and based on majority- candidates must win more than 50% to pass the first round. If not, a second round is organized with candidates having obtained a suffrage of at least equal to 12.5 percent of registered voters. This system favors the big parties, to the detriment of smaller ones who would prefer a proportional electoral system.

Despite being more representative of the electorate, proportional voting brought about political instability in the 4th Republic. It ended up disappearing in constitutional reforms in 1962. The objective of each party is to elect 289 MPs, an absolute majority at the National Assembly. It can then legislate without negotiating with any other bodies. Since 2002, legislative abstention never stopped rising- it reached almost 45% in 2012.

However these elections directly determine who will govern over the next 5 years. The new President’s party is only a year old and has no elected representatives for the moment. Meanwhile, the National Front has only 2 MPs in the Assembly. As for the traditional parties of left and right, they are more divided than ever since the presidential election…