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. By 17.00 CET, 59.39 percent of registered female and male voters had cast their ballots, according to the Paris Interior Ministry.
This is approximately 20 percentage points more than at the same time during the previous parliamentary election two years ago. A total of around 49 million eligible voters are called upon to vote on this Sunday, June 30, for the renewal of the French National Assembly.
[Tip: The data for the 2024 parliamentary election shows figures up to the voting deadline 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 relationships in the Paris Parliament. In the first round, only a few of the total 577 seats are usually directly elected. The first round therefore serves only as an introduction. The election outcome will not be known until the second round on July 7.
The mass of polling stations closed at 18.00 CET. Preliminary forecasts are expected on both voting days, but only from 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 be formally represented in 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. State President Emmanuel Macron reacted with the surprising step due to his party's weak result in the European elections and the strengthening of the French Right, and called for advanced parliamentary elections.
Macron hopes for stronger support: However, his centrist coalition could potentially face significant competition from the French Right 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 therefore become the third strongest force.
The challenges facing France required 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, pretend that nothing has 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, consisting of 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 right-wing populists from the RN, who gathered 31.5% of the votes in the French European election. 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 elections in the regions is deep blue.
Until 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 immediately thrust the parties into a kind of lightning campaign after the European elections, in which it is no longer about the distant Brussels but about the political direction of France.
RN Fraction Leader Marine Le Pen, who intends to run for the presidency again in 2027, looks at the unexpectedly announced new elections with great optimism. "We are ready to assume government responsibility," she declared.
The far-right party "Reconquête" with Marion Marechal-Le Pen as their leading 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 that cooperation with the RN is taboo – and thus openly against large parts of his party, Les Républicains.
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. For them, the election has already begun on Tuesday, June 25. In the French overseas territories, the election had already started earlier.
The French electoral law does not provide for postal voting. 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 at 18.00 hours, in Paris and other major cities they remain open until 20.00 hours. This results in relatively reliable estimates by 20.00 hours.
The vote in France attracts attention beyond national borders. It is still open how a possible victory of the right-wing populists will affect the political orientation of the second strongest economic power in Europe.
Previous statements from leading RN representatives do not indicate sudden confessions 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 alliance, Renaissance (RE, formerly "La République en Marche"), competed under the Ensemble-Coalition ENS banner. The ENS label stands for "Ensemble pour la majorité présidentielle" (approximately: Coalition of the Presidential Majority) and included liberal parties from the center, as well as left-wing and right-wing parties.
In the first round of the 2022 presidential elections, Macron's centralist alliance 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 shows the results of the 2022 parliamentary elections.
The NUPES coalition was a serious contender for Macron at the time: The social-ecological grouping could rely on a broad base, which included the Socialist Party and the Communist Party of France, as well as the French Greens and the left-populist party "La France insoumise" (Unbowed France).
In the 2022 presidential elections, the then NUPES candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon 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 after 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 MP Jordan Bardella, who had already been the candidate of his party 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 there would be a "Cohabitation" 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 for the presidency also affects the government camp. 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 party Renaissance, called for the mobilization of all republican forces. He intends to continue exercising his ministerial duties despite the campaign organization.
France's Economic 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 left-wing parties in France plan to run as a coalition in the upcoming election. On the very same 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 coalition agreed to field only one joint candidate in each of the 577 constituencies. "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."
However, the left-wing 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 down during the dispute over the attitude towards 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, with their third-placed candidate Raphael Glucksmann in the European election, now claim a leadership role.
577 constituencies, 577 seats
The new coalition is under pressure from the start. Until the election date on June 30, there is not much time left for Greens and Left to align on a common line. 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 comprises 577 seats. Elected in corresponding numbers of constituencies according to the French majority voting system in two rounds.
Candidates who achieve an absolute majority (more than 50% of the votes) in the first round, do not have to go to a second round, provided they receive more than a quarter of the votes in their constituency. In constituencies where no candidate crosses this threshold, a week later, the second round takes place: Here, the top two candidates from the first round face all the constituency candidates who received more than one eighth of the votes.
In general, the parties agree on common candidates before the second round, so that usually no more than three candidates run in each constituency. The mandate is won by the one with the most votes. The re-election of the French National Assembly is therefore expected to be confirmed around July 7.
- The unexpected advanced elections in France have put Emmanuel Macron and his centrist coalition, Ensemble, in a challenging position against the French Right, with Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National leading in the latest surveys.
- With Marine Le Pen, who aims to run for the presidency again in 2027, expressing optimism towards the new elections and the Conservatives showing openness for a coalition with her party, the right-wing populists see an opportunity to potentially secure a governing majority in Paris, which could mark the first time since 1997 that there would be "Cohabitation" in France.
- Meanwhile, the left-wing parties in France have agreed to form a common movement named "Popular Front" in the upcoming election, aiming to field only one joint candidate in each of the 577 constituencies and aiming to build an alternative to Emmanuel Macron and combat the far-right's "racist project."
