All data on the French election
Large voting day at the European neighbor: French President Macron pulls the trigger after the European election and sets the first round of the advanced parliamentary elections for this Sunday. Who will have a say in the French National Assembly in the future? Cards, data, and infographics in overview.
With a surprisingly high voter turnout, the first round of the advanced parliamentary election in France is heading towards its target. According to the Paris Interior Ministry, 59.39 percent of registered voters cast their votes by 17.00 CET.
This is nearly 20 percentage points more than at the same time for the previous parliamentary election two years ago. A total of approximately 49 million eligible voters are called to vote on this Sunday, June 30, in the first round for the renewal of the French National Assembly.
Note: The data for the 2024 parliamentary election shows ongoing survey results and will be updated continuously as soon as results become available after the polling stations close.
In two voting booths, the French will decide on the power and majority relations in the Paris parliament. In the first round, very few of the total 577 seats are usually directly elected. The first round thus serves only as an introduction. The election outcome will only be clear after the second round on July 7.
The polling stations closed at 18.00 CET. Preliminary results are expected on both voting days, but not before 20.00 CET. It should be noted that parties do not have to belong to a coalition uniformly, but can assign their candidates to different coalitions (so-called "Nuances") at the constituency level. Therefore, parties can formally represent several coalitions. Official results will only be given after the counting of the votes. The announcements are expected to be published late on the evening of the election by the French Interior Ministry.
The latest surveys indicate major shifts: The sudden elections have deeply shaken French politics. In response to the weak result of his centrist party in the European elections and the strengthening of the French Right, President Emmanuel Macron took the surprising step of calling for advanced parliamentary elections.
Macron hopes to gain stronger support: However, the French Right could also become significantly more influential in the future. In the surveys, the right-wing populists of the "Rassemblement National" (RN, National Rally) in France were leading. Macron's "Ensemble" alliance could then only be the third strongest force.
The challenges facing France demanded clarity, and the French deserved respect, Macron justified his decision on the evening of the European elections. "I cannot, at the end of this day, act as if nothing had happened," he said, looking at the results of the European elections and his decision to call for new elections to the National Assembly. "I trust in the ability of the French electorate to make the best choice for themselves and for future generations."
Macron's "Renaissance" Party suffered a heavy defeat in the European election on June 9. As part of the "Besoin d'Europe" (BE) alliance, which includes Renaissance, the "Ensemble" parties, and the Union of Democrats (UDI, "Union des démocrates et indépendants"), they only managed to secure 14.6% of the votes.
This is not even half as many votes as the French right-wing populists from the RN, who garnered 31.5% of the votes in the European election in France. At the beginning of June, the French socialists were just behind Macron with 13.8% of the votes.
In the majority of French regions, the right-wing parties secured the victory. The French map with the results of the European election in the regions is lit up deep blue.
By June 30, there is not much time left. Macron's decision, which he can make as the French President according to Article 12 of the French Constitution, will catapult the parties directly after the European election into a kind of blitz campaign, in which it is no longer about Brussels, but about the political orientation of France.
RN Fraction Leader Marine Le Pen, who intends to run for the presidency again in 2027, looks at the unexpectedly scheduled new elections with great confidence. "We are ready to assume government responsibility," she declared.
The far-right party "Reconquête" with Marion Marechal-Le Pen as the lead candidate has already expressed openness for a coalition - as well as the head of France's Conservatives, Eric Ciotti.
The new flexibility of the conservative camp creates new realities for Macron: Ciotti's coalition signals challenge a long-standing consensus within his party Les Républicains, and he thus openly opposes large parts of his own party.
In the French and overseas elections, the French electoral law applies, which generally favors larger parties. Voters living abroad can also cast their votes online. The voting for them has already begun on Tuesday, June 25. In the French overseas territories, the voting had already started earlier.
The French electoral law does not provide for a mail-in ballot. Voters can, however, grant a proxy and designate a trustee for themselves. For this, they must first identify themselves at any police station.
Most polling stations close in the evening around 18.00, in Paris and other large cities they remain open until 20.00. This results in relatively unreliable projections by 20.00.
The vote in France is attracting attention beyond national borders. It is still open how a possible victory of the right-wing populists will affect the political alignment of the second strongest economic power in Europe.
Previous statements from leading RN representatives do not indicate sudden declarations of commitment to the European unification process. The much-invoked Franco-German engine within the EU could temporarily stutter.
In the 2022 parliamentary elections, Macron's centralist coalition, Renaissance (RE, formerly "La République en Marche"), competed under the Ensemble-Coalition ENS banner along with liberal parties of the center, left-wing, and right-wing parties. The ENS label stands for "Ensemble pour la majorité présidentielle" (approximately: Coalition for the Presidential Majority).
In the first round of the 2022 elections, Macron's centralist coalition was neck and neck with the left-wing NUPES list ("Nouvelle union populaire écologique et sociale," approximately: New ecological and social popular union).
Note: This infographic displays the results of the 2022 parliamentary elections.
The NUPES coalition was a serious contender for Macron at the time: The social-ecological group could rely on a broad base, which included the Socialist Party, the Communist Party of France, the French Greens, and the left-populist party "La France insoumise" (Unbowed France).
In the 2022 presidential election, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the NUPES' leading candidate, came close but failed to make it to the runoff. In the second round, Macron defeated the right-wing populist candidate Marine Le Pen.
Two years later, the political landscape looks different: The French right is sensing a resurgence following the European elections. Le Pen welcomed Macron's re-election announcement and spoke of a "bold decision" and a new openness from the Conservatives, referring to the responsibility-consciousness of Cottis.
The right intends to enter the parliamentary elections under the leadership of EU deputy Jordan Bardella, who had already been the party's leading candidate in the EU elections. Bardella was quoted by RTL radio as saying, "He is our candidate for Matignon." Hotel Matignon is the official residence of the French Prime Minister in Paris.
Will there be "Cohabitation" in Paris?
It is still uncertain whether the European resurgence of right-wing populists will also take hold in France: If the RN manages to secure a governing majority, it could mark the first time since 22 years that cohabitation occurs in France.
The term refers to the situation where the President and the strongest political faction in the Parliament belong to different political camps, and the President has no majority of his own. This has happened three times, most recently from 1997 to 2002 with the conservative President Jacques Chirac and the socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.
Macron's forced campaign, which triggered a blitzkrieg election, also affects the ruling coalition. The center alliance, which had lost the absolute majority in the parliamentary elections two years ago, switched to campaign mode immediately after the parliamentary dissolution.
Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné, who is also the chief of Macron's Renaissance party, called for the mobilization of all republican forces. He intends to continue exercising his ministerial duties despite the campaign organization.
France's Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire considered the upcoming election following the success of the right-wing populists in the EU election as having historical significance for the Fifth Republic. This is the election that will have the "most severe consequences in the history of the Fifth Republic." The outcome of the voting will determine "what the French nation will be in the coming years and decades."
Green-left "Popular Front" against Macron
The leftist parties in France plan to run as a coalition in the upcoming election. On the day of Macron's announcement, the Left Party, Socialists, Communists, and Greens agreed in principle to form a common movement named "Popular Front" (People's Front).
This hastily formed alliance agreed to field only one joint candidate in each of the 577 electoral districts. "We want a program for social and ecological transformation to build an alternative to Emmanuel Macron and to combat the racist project of the far-right extremists."
The leftist alliance is still far from dry clothes. Although the leftist parties had already run together in the last parliamentary election two years ago and had formed a joint parliamentary faction, the alliance had effectively broken apart during the dispute over the stance on the Gaza War. And while the Left Party and its leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon were the strongest and driving force two years ago, the Socialists, who finished third in the European election, now claim a leadership role with their candidate Raphael Glucksmann.
577 Electoral Districts, 577 Seats
The new alliance is under pressure from the start. Until the election date on June 30, the Greens and the Left have little time left to align on a common platform. The French parliament consists of two chambers: the Senate and the National Assembly, with the announced elections only affecting the National Assembly. The National Assembly has 577 seats. Elected in corresponding numbers of electoral districts using the French majority voting system in two rounds.
Candidates who reach an absolute majority, that is, more than 50% of the votes cast, in the first round do not have to participate in the second round, provided they obtain more than a quarter of the votes in their constituency. In constituencies where none of the candidates exceed this threshold, the second round will take place a week later: Here, the two leading candidates from the first round face off against all constituency candidates who received more than one eighth of the votes.
In general, the parties reach agreements before the second round, so that usually no more than three candidates per constituency run. The mandate is awarded to the one with the most votes. The reconstitution of the French National Assembly is therefore expected to take place on the evening of July 7.
- In the midst of political shifts, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the Rassemblement National (RN), expresses confidence in the upcoming new elections for the French National Assembly, as she aims to assume government responsibility.
- Amidst the broad base of the social-ecological group NUPES, which includes the Socialist Party, the Communist Party of France, the French Greens, and the left-populist party "La France insoumise", they secured a respectable position in the previous parliamentary elections, posing a significant challenge to Emmanuel Macron's centralist coalition.
- Looking towards the future, the French Right, led by Marine Le Pen and her RN party, could potentially become more influential in the French National Assembly, following their strong performance in the European elections, which may significantly alter the political orientation of France.
