French presidential debates, broadcast on TV, traditionally occurred only between the two rounds of the presidential elections.
In 2017, for the first time, a presidential debate took place prior to the first round.
Presidential elections were held in France on 23 April and 7 May 2017. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a runoff was held between the top two candidates, Emmanuel Macron of En Marche! (EM) and Marine Le Pen of the National Front (FN), which Macron won with a difference of more than 30% of the vote. The presidential election was followed by a legislative election to elect members of the National Assembly on 11 and 18 June. Incumbent president François Hollande of the Socialist Party (PS) was eligible to run for a second term, but declared on 1 December 2016 that he would not seek reelection in light of low approval ratings, making him the first incumbent head of state of the Fifth Republic not to seek reelection.
François Goetghebeur is a French film director, photographer and art director. He became known in the music world thanks to his work including music videos, recordings, documentaries and artists portraits.
Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron is a French politician who has been serving as the 25th president of France since 2017 and ex officio one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. He previously was Minister of Economics, Industry and Digital Affairs under President François Hollande from 2014 to 2016 and Deputy Secretary-General to the President from 2012 to 2014. He has been a member of Renaissance since he founded it in 2016.
The Republicans is a liberal conservative political party in France, largely inspired by the tradition of Gaullism. The party was formed on 30 May 2015 as the re-incorporation of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), which had been established in 2002 under the leadership of then-President of France, Jacques Chirac.
Legislative elections were held in France on 11 and 18 June 2017 to elect the 577 members of the 15th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. They followed the two-round presidential election won by Emmanuel Macron. The centrist party he founded in 2016, La République En Marche! (LREM), led an alliance with the centrist Democratic Movement (MoDem); together, the two parties won 350 of the 577 seats—a substantial majority—in the National Assembly, including an outright majority of 308 seats for LREM. The Socialist Party (PS) was reduced to 30 seats and the Republicans (LR) reduced to 112 seats, and both parties' allies also suffered from a marked drop in support; these were the lowest-ever scores for the centre-left and centre-right in the legislative elections. The movement founded by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, la France Insoumise (FI), secured 17 seats, enough for a group in the National Assembly. Among other major parties, the French Communist Party (PCF) secured ten and the National Front (FN) obtained eight seats. Both rounds of the legislative election were marked by record low turnout.
Renaissance (transl. Rebirth) is a liberal and centrist political party in France. The party was originally known as En Marche ! and later La République En Marche !, before adopting its current name in September 2022. RE is the leading force of the centrist to centre-right Together coalition, coalesced around Emmanuel Macron's original presidential majority.
Events from the year 2017 in France.
The Benalla affair or Benalla affairs are political and judicial cases involving Alexandre Benalla, who served as a security officer and deputy chief of staff to President of France Emmanuel Macron.
Marie Peltier is a Belgian author. She teaches at the Institut supérieur de pédagogie Galilée in Brussels.
Sibeth Ndiaye is a French-Senegalese communications advisor who served as Government Spokeswoman under Prime Minister Édouard Philippe from 1 April 2019 to 6 July 2020.
Maëlle Pistoia, better known as simply Maëlle, is a French singer. She is the winner of the seventh season of the French version of the talent show The Voice. In April 2019, she released her first single, titled "Toutes les machines ont un cœur".
Angélina Nava, better known as Angelina, is a French singer. She achieved fame after winning the fourth French season of The Voice Kids. A year later, she represented her country at the 2018 Junior Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Jamais sans toi", finishing second. In spring 2019, she released her debut album, Ma voie, with a song titled "Maman me dit" as its lead single.
Grégoire Margotton is a French sports journalist who has worked for French television channels Canal+ and TF1. Since 2018, he has been the main presenter of the TF1 football programme Téléfoot.
Legislative elections were held in France on 12 and 19 June 2022 to elect the 577 members of the 16th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. The elections took place following the 2022 French presidential election, which was held in April 2022. They have been described as the most indecisive legislative elections since the establishment of the five-year presidential term in 2000 and subsequent change of the electoral calendar in 2002. The governing Ensemble coalition remained the largest bloc in the National Assembly but substantially lost its ruling majority, resulting in the formation of France's first minority government since 1993; for the first time since 1997, the incumbent president of France did not have an absolute majority in Parliament. As no alliance won a majority, it resulted in a hung parliament for the first time since 1988.
Ensemble is a liberal political coalition in France created by Emmanuel Macron. Formed in November 2021 as Ensemble Citoyens, it makes up the presidential majority and includes Renaissance, Democratic Movement (MoDem), Horizons, En commun, and the Progressive Federation. The coalition included the parties Agir and Territories of Progress (TDP) until they were merged into the rebranded Renaissance. Ensemble has mainly been described as being centrist, and sometimes as centre-right on the political spectrum.
The New Ecological and Social People's Union was a left-wing electoral alliance of political parties in France. Formed on May Day 2022, the alliance included La France Insoumise (LFI), the Socialist Party (PS), the French Communist Party (PCF), The Ecologists (LE), Ensemble! (E!), and Génération.s (G.s), and their respective smaller partners. It was the first wide left-wing political alliance since the Plural Left in the 1997 French legislative election. Over 70 dissident candidates who refused the accord still ran.
Legislative elections were held in France on 30 June and 7 July 2024 to elect all 577 members of the 17th National Assembly of the Fifth French Republic. The election followed the dissolution of the National Assembly by President Emmanuel Macron, triggering a snap election after the National Rally (RN) made substantial gains and Macron's Besoin d'Europe electoral list lost a significant number of seats in the 2024 European Parliament election in France.
Arnaud Leparmentier is a French journalist. From 2012 to 2017 he was editorial director of the newspaper Le Monde and since then has been a correspondent in New York.
