France is a representative democracy

Representative democracy

Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the principle of elected individuals representing the people, as opposed to autocracy and direct democracy...

. Public officials in the legislative and executive branches are either elected by the citizens (directly or indirectly) or appointed by elected officials. Referendum

Referendum

A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...

s may also be called to consult the French citizenry directly on a particular question, especially one which concerns amendment to the Constitution

Constitution of France

The current Constitution of France was adopted on 4 October 1958. It is typically called the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, and replaced that of the Fourth Republic dating from 1946. Charles de Gaulle was the main driving force in introducing the new constitution and inaugurating the Fifth...

.

France elects on its national level a head of state

Head of State

A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...

 – the president – and a legislature:

• The president is elected for a five-year term (previously, seven years), directly by the citizens (see Election of the President of the French Republic).
• The Parliament
  Parliament of France
  The French Parliament is the bicameral legislature of the French Republic, consisting of the Senate and the National Assembly . Each assembly conducts legislative sessions at a separate location in Paris: the Palais du Luxembourg for the Senate, the Palais Bourbon for the National Assembly.Each...
  
   (Parlement) has two chambers
  Bicameralism
  In the government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses....
  
  .
  • The National Assembly
    French National Assembly
    The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
    
     (Assemblée Nationale) has 577 members, elected for a five-year term in single seat-constituencies directly by the citizens.
  • The Senate
    French Senate
    The Senate is the upper house of the Parliament of France, presided over by a president.The Senate enjoys less prominence than the lower house, the directly elected National Assembly; debates in the Senate tend to be less tense and generally enjoy less media coverage.-History:France's first...
    
     (Sénat) has 348 members, 328 of which are elected for six-year terms by an electoral college consisting of elected representatives from each département, 8 of which are elected from other dependencies, and 12 of which are elected by the French Assembly of French Citizens Abroad
    Assembly of French Citizens Abroad
    The Assembly of French Citizens Abroad is the political body that represents French citizens living outside of France. The assembly advises the government on issues involving French nationals living outside France, as well as the role of France in overseas developments...
    
     (Assemblée des Français de l'étranger) which has replaced the High Council of French Citizens Abroad (Conseil Supérieur des Français de l'Étranger) a 155-member assembly elected by citizens living abroad.

See Government of France

Government of France

The government of the French Republic is a semi-presidential system determined by the French Constitution of the fifth Republic. The nation declares itself to be an "indivisible, secular, democratic, and social Republic"...

 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 (conseils 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

Two-party system

A two-party system is a system where two major political parties dominate voting in nearly all elections at every level of government and, as a result, all or nearly all elected offices are members of one of the two major parties...

; 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 displays 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 Socialist Party

Socialist Party (France)

The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France and the largest party of the French centre-left. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France, along with the center-right Union for a Popular Movement...

, on the right, the UMP

Union for a Popular Movement

The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party...

 and its predecessors. See politics of France

Politics of France

France is a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, in which the President of France is head of state and the Prime Minister of France is the head of government, and there is a pluriform, multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is...

 for more details.

Elections are conducted according to rules set in the Constitution of France

Constitution of France

The current Constitution of France was adopted on 4 October 1958. It is typically called the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, and replaced that of the Fourth Republic dating from 1946. Charles de Gaulle was the main driving force in introducing the new constitution and inaugurating the Fifth...

, organisational laws (lois organiques), and the electoral code.

Elections are always held on Sundays in France.
The campaigns end at midnight the Friday before the election; then, on election Sunday, by law, no polls can be published, no electoral publication and broadcasts can be made. The voting stations open at 8 am and close at 6 pm in small towns or at 8 pm in cities, depending on prefectoral decisions. By law, publication of results or estimates is prohibited prior to that time; such results are however often available from the media of e.g. Belgium and Switzerland, or from foreign Internet sites, prior to that time. The first estimate of the results are thus known at Sunday, 8pm, Paris time; one consequence is that voters in e.g. French Guiana

French Guiana

French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...

, Martinique and Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...

 knew the probable results of elections whereas they had not finished voting, which allegedly discouraged them from voting. For this reason, since the 2000s, elections in French possessions in the Americas, as well as embassies and consulates there, are held on Saturdays as a special exemption.

Voters

With the exception of senatorial election, for which there is an electoral college

Electoral college

An electoral college is a set of electors who are selected to elect a candidate to a particular office. Often these represent different organizations or entities, with each organization or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way...

, 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

Alain Juppé

Alain Marie Juppé is a French politician currently serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He also served as Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac and the Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs from 2010 to 2011...

.

Voting by proxy is possible when the citizen cannot easily come to vote (reasons include: health problems, the citizen does not live in the voting consistuency, he or she is away for work or vacations, he or she is jailed yet has not been sentenced and deprived of civic rights etc.). The citizen designates a proxy, who must be a voter from the same commune. The designation of the proxy must be made before a legally capable witness: a judge, a judicial clerk, or an officier of judicial police

Law enforcement in France

Law enforcement in France is conducted at the national and municipal level, and is the responsibility of a variety of law enforcement agencies. Three agencies operate at the national level, and at the local level each commune is able to maintain their own municipal police...

, or, outside of France, before an ambassador or consul. In the case of handicapped or severely ill people, an officer of judicial police or delegate thereof can be sent to the home of the citizen to witness the designation. The procedure is meant to avoid pressures on voters.

Electoral system

In all elections where there is a single official to be elected for a given area, including the two major national elections (the election of the President of the Republic and the election of the members of the National Assembly

French National Assembly

The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....

), two-round runoff voting

Two-round system

The two-round system is a voting system used to elect a single winner where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate...

 is used.

For elections to the European Parliament

European Parliament

The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

 and some local elections, proportional voting is used.

Voting procedures

In general, voting is done using paper and manual counting. The voter gets pre-printed bulletins from a table at the entrance of the voting office (they are also provided through the mail), as well as an envelope. They enter the isoloir, or isolation booth, where they're hidden from sight, and insert the appropriate bulletin into the envelope. They walk to the ballot box and show their voter registration card (not compulsory) and are required to prove their identity (in towns of more than 5000 inhabitants, an identification document must be shown). After the officials have acknowledged their right to vote, the ballot box is opened and the voter inserts the envelope. One of the officials traditionally loudly says "a voté", which can be translated as "your ballot has been cast". It is purely ceremonial and has a double meaning: the voter's voice will be taken into account and they've accomplished their civic duty. They then sign the voters' list, and their registration card is stamped.

Procedures differ when electronic voting, not widespread in France, is used in some cities, despite some controversy about its safety and effectiveness.

Presidential

Indirect Presidential elections

• 3rd Republic
  French Presidential elections under the Third Republic
  French Presidential elections under the Third Republic involved the election of the President of France by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate...
  
  
• 1947
  French presidential election, 1947
  Indirect presidential elections were held in France on 16 January 1947. All members of the Parliament of France voted to elect the first President of the Fourth Republic....
  
  
• 1953
  French presidential election, 1953
  Indirect presidential elections were held in France in December, 1953. All members of the Parliament of France voted to elect the second President of the Fourth Republic.The independent René Coty won after thirteen rounds of voting....
  
  
• 1958
  French presidential election, 1958
  The French presidential election of 1958, the first of the French Fifth Republic, took place on December 21, 1958. This was the only French presidential election by the electoral college .-First round:To win, a candidate...
  
  

Other elections

As well as Presidential and legislative elections, France also has municipal, cantonal, regional, European, and (indirect) Senatorial elections.

Regional

Regional elections have been held since 1986 to elect regional councillors and regional presidents: all elected to serve 6-year terms.

• 2010
  French regional elections, 2010
  Regional elections were held in France on 14 and 21 March 2010. At stake were the presidencies of each of France's 26 régions, which, though they do not have legislative autonomy, manage sizable budgets....
  
  
• 2004
  French regional elections, 2004
  Regional elections in were held in France on 21 and 28 March 2004. At stake were the presidencies of each of France's 26 regions which, although they do not have legislative powers, manage sizeable budgets...
  
  
• 1998
  French regional elections, 1998
  Regional elections were held in France on 15 March 1998. At stake were the presidencies of each of France's 26 régions, which, though they don't have legislative autonomy, manage sizeable budgets...
  
  
• 1992
  French regional elections, 1992
  Regional elections were held in France on 22 March 1992. At stake were the presidencies of each of France's 26 régions, which, though they don't have legislative autonomy, manage sizeable budgets. The parliamentary right, led by the conservative Rally for the Republic and the centre-right Union for...
  
  
• 1986
  French regional elections, 1986
  Regional elections were held in France on 16 March 1986. At stake were the presidencies of each of France's 26 régions, which, though they don't have legislative autonomy, manage sizeable budgets. The parliamentary right, led by the conservative Rally for the Republic and the centre-right Union for...
  
  

European Parliament

Elections for the French delegation to the European parliament are held every five years.

• 2009
  European Parliament election, 2009 (France)
  European elections to elect 72 French Members of the European Parliament were held on Sunday 7 June 2009.Due to the entry of Romania and Bulgaria in the European Union in 2007, the number of seats allocated to France was revised from 78 seats to 72 seats, a loss of 6 seats...
  
  
• 2004
  European Parliament election, 2004 (France)
  Elections to the European Parliament were held in France on 13 June 2004. The opposition Socialist Party made substantial gains, although this was mainly at the expense of minor parties...
  
  
• 1999
  European Parliament election, 1999 (France)
  On 13 June 1999 the fifth direct elections to the European Parliament were held in the France. Once again, abstention was very high for this type of election- only 47% of eligible voters voted...
  
  
• 1994
  European Parliament election, 1994 (France)
  On 12 June 1994 the fourth direct elections to the European Parliament were held in the France. Six lists were able to win seats: an alliance of the centre-right Union for French Democracy and the Gaullist Rally for the Republic, the Socialist Party, the Left Radical Party, the French Communist...
  
  
• 1989
  European Parliament election, 1989 (France)
  On 15 June 1989 the third direct elections to the European Parliament were held in the France. Six lists were able to win seats: an alliance of the centre right Union for French Democracy and the Gaullist Rally for the Republic, an alliance of the Socialist Party and the PRG, the French Communist...
  
  

Senate

French senators are renewed by halves every six years through an indirect electoral college

Electoral college

An electoral college is a set of electors who are selected to elect a candidate to a particular office. Often these represent different organizations or entities, with each organization or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way...

 composed of elected officials and general, regional, and some local councillors.

• 2011
  French Senate election, 2011
  A Senate election was held for 165 of the 348 seats in the Senate of France on 25 September 2011. Senate members were primarily elected by municipal officials, and the number of senators was increased from 343 to 348, due to the growth of France's population since the previous election was held in...
  
  
• 2008
  French Senate election, 2008
  Indirect Senate elections were held for 114 of the 343 seats in the French Senate on 21 September 2008. With this election, the number of senators was increased from 331 to 343; Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin elected two senators each for the first time...
  
  
• 2004
  French Senate election, 2004
  Following the end of the 9-year terms of 127 "series C" senators, indirect senatorial elections were held in France on September 26, 2004.This was the last renewal of serie C senators- following the electoral reform, senators are not elected by thirds to nine-year terms but by halves to six-year...
  
  

Municipal

Municipal elections to elect city mayors and councillors are held every six years.

• 2008
  French municipal elections, 2008
  The French municipal elections of 2008 were held on 9 March in that year to elect the municipal councils of France's 36,782 communes...
  
  
• 2001
  French municipal elections, 2001
  Municipal elections were held in France on 11 and 18 March 2001. These elections were marked by a setback for the left and a victory for the right one year before the 2002 presidential election...
  
  
• 1995
  French municipal elections, 1995
  Municipal elections were held in France on 11 and 18 June 1995, more or less than one month after Jacques Chirac's election.The far-right National Front elected 3 mayors in Provence: Toulon, Orange, Marignane. It was the first time the far-right led an executive alone. In other races, Jean Tiberi ...
  
  
• 1989
  French municipal elections, 1989
  Municipal elections were held in France on 12 and 19 March 1989. After the 1983 disaster, the left did relatively well in 1989. They gained Nantes, Strasbourg, Brest, Orléans, Mulhouse, Avignon, Chambéry, and Blois while losing Amiens, Saint-Malo, and Laon. The Communists continued their decline....
  
  

Cantonal

• 2008
  French cantonal elections, 2008
  Cantonal elections to elect half the membership of the general councils of France's 100 departments were held on 9 and 16 March 2008. These elections coincided with the municipal elections, in which the left did well.-Electoral system:...
  
  
• 2004
  French cantonal elections, 2004
  Cantonal elections to elect half the membership of the general councils of France's 100 departments were held on 21 and 28 March 2004. These elections coincided with the left's landslide in the regional elections held at the same time and also resulted in strong performances by the Socialist Party...
  
  
• 2001
  French cantonal elections, 2001
  Cantonal elections to elect half the membership of the general councils of France's 100 departments were held on 11 and 18 March 2001. While the left did poorly in the municipal elections held on the same dates, it emerged as the overall winner in the cantonal elections, gaining control of six...
  
  
• 1998
  French cantonal elections, 1998
  Cantonale elections to renew the first series of cantons general councillors were held in France on 15 and 22 March 2001.-Electoral system:The cantonales elections use the same system as the regional or legislative elections...
  
  

External links

• Official results from the Ministry of the Interior
• thematic files from the Constitutional Council, including election results
• Adam Carr's Election Archive
• Laurent de Boissieu's Election Archive
• Will 2010 regional elections lead to political shake-up? Radio France Internationale in English
• NSD: European Election Database – France publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1993–2007