The French election process explained
The first vote in France's two-round presidential election will take place on April 23. FT Paris bureau chief Anne-Sylvaine Chassany explains how the country will choose its president and, shortly after, its lower house of parliament.
Written by Hannah Murphy and Anne-Sylvaine Chassany. Graphics by Russell Birkett. Produced by Hannah Murphy and Seb Morton-Clark.
Transcript
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France is heading into the most unpredictable presidential election in decades, which is critical not just for the future direction of the EU's second largest economy, but to the survival of the EU itself. Voting in the battle for the Elysee Palace is conducted in two stages. The first round is open to any candidate who is able to get 500 signatures of support from elected officials such as mayors. Some of these candidates are nominated by a political party ahead of the vote, either directly or through primary contests. Others run as independents.
Although a candidate can theoretically win the election by securing 50% of the vote in the first round, this has never happened since the current voting system was introduced back in the '60s. A runoff between the two leading candidates is held two weeks after the first ballot. This year, the first round vote will take place on April the 23rd, and the second round on May the 7th.
Typically, French presidential elections are contests between centre left and centre right candidates, although in 2002, the far right National Front beat the Socialists into the runoff. This year, it is a three-way or even four-way race. The political mood is volatile. And the electorate is fragmented.
A front runner is Marine LePen, the far right leader. Her closest competitor is Emmanuel Macron, an independent with a new party who's never held elected office before. One time favourite, Francois Fillon, has been tarnished by an embezzlement scandal. Benoit Hamon was the unexpected winner of the Socialist primary and could still gain traction. The outcome of the second round is harder to predict, with much hinging turnout and tactical voting.
But May the 7th is not the end of the election season. French voters will go to the polls again on June the 11th and 18th, this time to elect the members of the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament. Voters from each of France's 577 constituencies will pick their local representative, known as a deputy, to sit in the house. It is another two-round process in which the two candidates with the most votes and any other that wins at least 12.5% of the votes goes through to a runoff first pass the post vote.
Once the legislative elections are over, the president must then appoint a prime minister to form a government that can command a majority in the assembly. In the past, presidents were forced to run France with governments from other political parties. To avoid this recovering, presidential terms were reduced from seven to five years, and parliamentary and presidential election cycles synchronised.
But it may happen again. The National Front might struggle to win a parliamentary majority, as might Mr. Macron's new party.
While its powers are limited, the National Assembly can bring down the government if an absolute majority-- that is, 289 deputies-- votes a motion of no confidence.
With this year's presidential election promising to be such a tightly fought battle, pushback from the assembly against a future president cannot be ruled out.
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