Tag Archives: elections

The Paris Games, Part Five: Wait what?

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I don’t talk about politics on this blog, but the French President calling snap elections a few weeks ahead of the Olympics was on no one’s bingo card. As a result, we spent June in election mode, with voting taking place at the end of June and the beginning of July. This followed the European Parliament elections in early June.
Don’t ask.

The Assemblée Nationale – seat of the lower house of the French parliament

So here we are, with the world’s biggest sporting event about to begin, a host city full of disgruntled citizens who have just been forced to cast their votes and who only wish their summer vacation were already there.
But there are still a few more events coming first:

The Tour de France
The Tour is a huge annual event. It dominates French television for three weeks, even on rest days. This year, in order to avoid an overlap with the Olympics, the Tour started a week earlier than usual and finished for the first time ever far away from the capital, in Nice. (This should have scored with the disgruntled Parisians. Probably not, though.)

The 2024 Tour de France publicity cars in the Champagne region

The Tour de France racing past us in the Champagne

Bastille Day
July 14 is the French National holiday, with a big military parade and lots of flag-waving and fireworks. Nothing special to report there, but two days later the prime minister’s resignation was accepted. His government stayed on as caretaker government until all of Paris 2024 was concluded.

On July 17, the French mayor took a quick swim in the Seine, with dozens and dozens of journalists immortalizing her heroic feat. Talk about a political summer!

Promise, no more politics until September.

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Electing the Assembly

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The French parliament is composed of the National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) and the Senate (Sénat). The National Assembly is elected every five years, the same year as the presidential elections.

There are 577 seats in the National Assembly. The deputés (MPs) are elected in single-member constituencies in a two-round vote, just like the French president.

All candidates who receive at least 12,5% of the electorate (which includes all registered voters, whether they cast a vote or not) go into the runoff, unless one candidate gets the absolute majority of valid votes (=votes that were actually cast) and 25% of the electorate (=all registered voters), in which case this candidate wins the seat and there is no runoff.
In the runoff, which is held one week after the first round, the candidate with the most votes is elected.

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An Introduction to the French Presidential Elections

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In France, the president is elected by direct popular vote in a two-round election every five years.

Let’s look at this more closely:

The president is elected directly by the people. If you’re French and over 18, all you have to do is make sure you’re on the voting list (and if you’re not, sign up at your local mairie, or city hall).

It’s a two-round election. On the first-round election day, you go to the polling station and cast your vote for one of the dozen or so candidates. If no candidate secures the absolute majority in the first round, the two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the second round. The second round takes place two weeks after the first.
By the way, elections are always held on a Sunday.

Current French President Emmanuel Macron (since 2017) at Musée Grévin, with former President Georges Pompidou (1969until his death in 1974) on the screen in the background

The election takes place every five years. It used to be every seven years, and as a president can be reelected once, he can potentially hold the presidency for a total of 14 years (like François Mitterrand did, from 1981 to 1995). In 2000, then-president Jacques Chirac held a referendum to change the term from seven to five years. It passed, and when he was reelected in 2002, he served for another five years, with a total of 12 years in office.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2012)

So far, there have been no female presidents. A woman made it to the second round in 2007 and in 2017, and in the 2022 presidential elections, there are four women among the 12 official candidates.

In order to become an official candidate, you need the official support (“parainnage”) of 500 elected officials, such as members of parliament, mayors, or senators. In 2022, there were 64 individuals who received at least one parrainage, 22 of whom were not even trying to become a candidate (such as the astronaut Thomas Pesquet). Add to that 16 individuals who tried to but did not receive any parrainage.

Astronaut Thomas Pesquet doesn’t want to become President

You get the idea, the field is crowded. Some go in for the attention, or to make a statement (political or otherwise).
The serious contenders, those who become official candidates, need to obtain at least 5% of the vote to get a meaningful chunk of their campaign expenses reimbursed. With twelve official candidates vying for the votes, good luck to them.

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