When is the French election?
There are two elections in France this year.
The first one is to choose the country’s president for the next five years. The first round of voting takes place on Sunday, 10 April. Unless someone gets more than 50% of the vote share, there will be a second round on Sunday, 24 April.
Then, in June, there will be an election to choose France’s next parliament.
Who is running in France’s presidential election?
Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon are among the familiar faces in the race for France’s top job.
The newest and most controversial arrival on the French political scene is far-right television personality Eric Zemmour.
Zemmour has long been a household name in France. He had until recently been a regular columnist at Le Figaro and other newspapers, as well as an outspoken TV commentator famed for his provocations on Islam, immigration and women.
Here is a full list of candidates running. For more, read our who’s who in the race to be France’s next president.
- Nathalie Arthaud | Lutte Ouvrière (Workers’ Struggle)
- Nicolas Dupont-Aignan | Debout la France (France Arise)
- Anne Hidalgo | Parti Socialiste (Socialist Party)
- Yannick Jadot | Europe Ecologie Les Verts (The Greens)
- Jean Lassalle | Résistons! (Resist!)
- Marine Le Pen | Rassemblement National (National Rally)
- Emmanuel Macron | La République En Marche! (The Republic On The Move)
- Jean-Luc Mélenchon | La France Insoumise (France Unbowed)
- Philippe Poutou | Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste (New Anticapitalist Party)
- Valérie Pécresse | Les Républicains (The Republicans)
- Fabien Roussel | Parti Communiste Français (French Communist Party)
- Eric Zemmour | Reconquête! (Reconquest)
Who will win the French election?
While incumbent president Emmanuel Macron is leading in the opinion polls, his rivals have recently cut into some of his support and polls also show that around a quarter of voters remain undecided. The abstention rate could be at a record high.
Below is one of the latest opinion polls. The survey, of first-round voting intentions, was carried out by Ipsos between 4-6 April.
How do French elections work?
Each potential candidate in the election had to get 500 signatures from mayors or local politicians to support their bid for France’s top job.
France’s constitutional council published a final list of candidates on 7 March.
The official campaign then began on 28 March, with French media having to adhere to rules about giving equal airtime to each candidate.
The two candidates with the most votes in the first round of the election on 10 April will then go head-to-head in a second round a fortnight later.
That’s unless a first-round candidate obtains more than 50% of the vote share. No one has ever done this.
French voters will once again take to the polls in June to vote for the next National Assembly, the country’s lower house of parliament.
Voters elect a member of parliament for each of the country’s 577 constituencies.
The deputies, or MPs, are also elected by majority vote in a two-round election. In the first round, a candidate can only win if they obtain the absolute majority of votes cast as well as a number of votes equal to a quarter of registered voters.
Candidates must obtain 12.5% of the number of registered voters to advance to the second round. If only one candidate obtains this, the candidate with the greatest number of votes after that candidate can also advance to the second round. If no candidate fulfils this condition, then the top two candidates can go to the second round.
Who can vote in French elections?
French citizens who have reached the age of 18 by the day of the election can vote.
There are 48.7 million eligible voters.
Prisoners have been allowed to vote in past elections — providing their convictions do not specifically deny them of their civil rights — by getting clearance to vote in person at the ballot box or by getting someone to vote on their behalf.
But due to the exhaustive paperwork that this required, only 2% of the incarcerated population voted in the 2017 presidential election.
This year will be the first presidential election in which prisoners can vote by post.
Prisoners were able to vote by post in the 2019 European elections and the change saw an uptick in the numbers taking part.
How powerful is France’s president?
“We have a president in France who presides over the Republic, who controls the government, who controls parliament, who controls the Constitutional Court. It makes a super president,” said Christophe Chabrot, a senior lecturer in public law at the Lumiere University Lyon 2.
This is in part due to the election by universal suffrage and the president’s ability to appoint a prime minister to lead the government.
The timing of the two elections also reinforces the French president’s power with the parliamentary election coming about a month later which assures that whoever wins the presidency will win a parliamentary majority.
“You don’t change your political opinion in a month. So the election of the legislature will often give the same majority as that of the president,” Chabrot said.
What are some of the key issues at the election?
Inflation and the cost of living
Recent polls have shown that purchasing power, the ability to buy goods, remains a top concern for French voters, especially amid record-high inflation in Europe.
Inflation hit 5.1% in the eurozone this year, driven up by energy prices and high demand following strict COVID-19 restrictions in many countries.
Environment
The environment remains a key concern for French people, with recent polls suggesting it was the third-largest issue for voters.
But it doesn’t appear to have translated into large support for Green Party (EELV) candidate Yannick Jadot, who is currently polling at around 5-6% behind the right-wing, far-right and far-left candidates.
Some hoped the success of the Greens in many major cities in France during the 2020 municipal elections would translate to more votes on the national stage.
COVID-19 pandemic
The past two years of politics have been consumed by the COVID-19 pandemic, including restrictions on daily life imposed by the government.
Presidential candidates have criticised Macron’s handling of the crisis including the introduction of a vaccine pass in January that required vaccination or recovery from COVID-19 in order to access restaurants and other areas of public life.
Ahead of the election, the French government suspended the measure as COVID-19 cases decrease after an Omicron peak in February.
Immigration
Immigration is a controversial topic in France and has once again been a big topic of the election debate, particularly among right-leaning candidates.
Le Pen and Zemmour have called for the cutting of social allocations to foreigners and reserving these benefits for French citizens. They have also called for limiting the entry of asylum seekers.
Presidents in France’s fifth republic
Charles de Gaulle (1959-1969)
Elected by an electoral college for a first seven-year term then re-elected by direct universal suffrage in 1965. He resigned after losing a referendum in 1969.
Georges Pompidou (1969-1974)
Died two years before the end of his mandate
Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (1974-1981)
Completed a seven-year term
François Mitterrand (1981-1995)
Served two, seven-year terms
Jacques Chirac (1995-2007)
Completed a seven-year and a five-year term