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This article contains a list of political parties in France.
France has a multi-party political system: one in which the number of competing political parties is sufficiently large as to make it almost inevitable that, in order to participate in the exercise of power, any single party must be prepared to negotiate with one or more others with a view to forming electoral alliances and/or coalition agreements.
The dominant French political parties are also characterised by a noticeable degree of intra-party factionalism, making each of them effectively a coalition in itself.
Up until recently, the government of France had alternated between two rather stable coalitions:
This was the case until the 2017 presidential election, when Emmanuel Macron of the centrist La République En Marche! defeated Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally in the second round. This was the first time in which a third party had won the presidency, as well as the first time that neither of the major coalitions had appeared in the second round of a presidential election. This was followed shortly by a significant victory for LREM in the 2017 legislative election, winning a majority of 350 seats. Both the traditional coalitions suffered major defeats.
In the 2022 presidential election, the same scenario repeated, with Emmanuel Macron being again victorious. Both traditional parties (Socialist Party and The Republicans) scored less than 5% each, with Jean-Luc Mélenchon's La France Insoumise emerging as the dominant left-wing party, ranking third in the first round.
The National Rally (previously known as the National Front before a name change in 2018) has also experienced significant successes in other elections. Since 2014, the party has established itself as a major party in France, finishing in first place in the 2014 and 2019 European elections as well as in the 2015 local elections, [1] though the party failed to win government in any regions due to the last-ditch alliance between the centre-left and the centre-right coalitions in Hauts-de-France and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. [2]
This section needs to be updated.(August 2022) |
Acronym and Name | National coalition | Leader or Chairman | Political Position |
---|---|---|---|
UPR: Popular Republican Union | None | François Asselineau | French nationalism, Hard Euroscepticism |
CJ: Comités Jeanne | None | Jean-Marie Le Pen | Nationalism, Euroscepticism, souverainism |
AR: Royal Alliance | None | Pierre Bernard | Monarchism (Orléanism), conservatism, Euroscepticism |
NAR: New Royalist Action | None | Bertrand Renouvin | Monarchism, conservatism, Euroscepticism, Gaullism |
RD: Democratic Rally | None | Philippe Cartellier | Monarchism, conservatism, Gaullism, Capetism |
GE: Ecology Generation | None | Yves Piétrasanta | Green politics, green conservatism, centre-right |
GR: Revolutionary Left | None | Collective | Marxism, socialism, Trotskyism |
PCOF: Workers' Communist Party of France | None | Collective | Communism, Marxism–Leninism, Hoxhaism, Anti-revisionism |
PRCF: Pole of Communist Revival in France | None | Léon Landini | Communism, Marxism-Leninism, Left-wing nationalism |
OCML-VP: Marxist–Leninist Communist Organization – Proletarian Way | None | Collective | Communism, Marxism-Leninism-Maoism |
PP: Pirate Party | None | Maxime Rouquet, Guillaume Lecoquierre | Intellectual property reform, protection of privacy and individual liberty |
LO: Workers' Struggle | None | Nathalie Arthaud, spokeswoman | Trotskyism, internationalism, feminism |
PL: Libertarian Party | None | Guilhem d'Urbal | Libertarianism |
PT: Workers' Party | None | Collective | Communism, Trotskyism, Lambertism, Internationalism, Euroscepticism |
UCL: Libertarian Communist Union | None | Collective | Anarchist Communism, Anarcha-feminism |
JC: New Jacobin Party | None | Gerald d'Ouvril, acting leader Maximilien Robespierre, youth leader | Jacobinism, Republicanism |
Volt: Volt France | None | Cécile Richard, Adrien Copros | European federalism, Social liberalism, Progressivism, Pro-Europeanism |
SP: Solidarity and Progress | None | Jacques Cheminade | Euroscepticism, LaRouchism |
AP: Animalist Party | None | Hélène Thouy | Animal welfare, animal rights |
The Radical Party, officially the Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party, is a liberal and social-liberal political party in France. Since 1971, to prevent confusion with the Radical Party of the Left (PRG), it has also been referred to as Parti radical valoisien, after its headquarters on the rue de Valois. The party's name has been variously abbreviated to PRRRS, Rad, PR and PRV. Founded in 1901, the PR is the oldest active political party in France.
The Radical Party of the Left is a social-liberal political party in France. A party in the Radical tradition, since 1972 the PRG has been a close ally of the major party of the centre-left in France, the Socialist Party. After the 2017 presidential and legislative elections, negotiations to merge the PRG with the Radical Party began and the refounding congress to reunite the parties into the Radical Movement was held on 9 and 10 December 2017. However, a faction of ex-PRG members, including its last president Sylvia Pinel, split from the Radical Movement in February 2019 due to its expected alliance with La République En Marche in the European elections and resurrected the PRG.
Liberalism and radicalism have played a role in the political history of France. The main line of conflict in France in the long nineteenth century was between monarchists and republicans. The Orléanists, who favoured constitutional monarchy and economic liberalism, were opposed to the Republican Radicals.
The Democratic Movement is a centre to centre-right political party in France, whose main ideological trends are liberalism and Christian democracy, and that is characterised by a strong pro-Europeanist stance. MoDem was established by François Bayrou to succeed the Union for French Democracy (UDF) and contest the 2007 legislative election, after his strong showing in the 2007 presidential election. Initially named the Democratic Party, the party was renamed "Democratic Movement", because there was already a small Democratic Party in France.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon is a French politician who was a member of the National Assembly for Bouches-du-Rhône's 4th constituency from 2017 to 2022. He led the La France Insoumise group in the National Assembly from 2017 to 2021. Mélenchon was elected as a member of the European Parliament (MEP) in 2009 and reelected in 2014. He has run for president of France three times. In 2022, he came within 1.2 percentage points of reaching the second round in France's two-round voting system.
Éric Ciotti is a French politician who led The Republicans (LR) from 2022 to 2024. He has represented Alpes-Maritimes's 1st constituency in the National Assembly since the 2007 legislative election. Once a member of The Republicans' right-wing, he was seeking to distance the party from Emmanuel Macron's presidency. He left The Republicans in 2024, and is now the leader of the Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR) party and parliamentary group.
The Union of Democrats and Independents is a liberal political party in France and former electoral alliance founded on 18 September 2012 on the basis of the eponymous parliamentary group in the National Assembly.
The Socialist Party is a centre-left to left-wing political party in France. It holds social democratic and pro-European views. The PS was for decades the largest party of the "French Left" and used to be one of the two major political parties under the Fifth Republic, along with the Rally for the Republic in the late 20th century, and with the Union for a Popular Movement in the early 2000s. It is currently led by First Secretary Olivier Faure. The PS is a member of the Party of European Socialists, Progressive Alliance and Socialist International.
The Republicans is a liberal-conservative political party in France, largely inspired by the tradition of Gaullism. The party was formed in 2015 as the refoundation of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), which had been established in 2002 under the leadership of then-president of France, Jacques Chirac.
Renaissance (RE) is a political party in France that is typically described as liberal and centrist or centre-right. The party was originally known as En Marche ! (EM) and later La République En Marche !, before adopting its current name in September 2022. RE is the leading force of the centrist Ensemble coalition, coalesced around Emmanuel Macron's original presidential majority.
La France Insoumise is a left-wing political party in France. It was launched in 2016 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, then a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and former co-president of the Left Party (PG). It aims to implement the eco-socialist and democratic socialist programme L'Avenir en commun. The party utilises the lower case Greek letter phi as its logotype.
Presidential elections were held in France on 10 and 24 April 2022. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a runoff was held, in which Emmanuel Macron defeated Marine Le Pen and was re-elected as President of France. Macron, from La République En Marche! (LREM), had defeated Le Pen, leader of the National Rally, once already in the 2017 French presidential election, for the term which expired on 13 May 2022. Macron became the first president of France to win a re-election bid since Jacques Chirac won in 2002.
Agir, officially Agir, la droite constructive, was a political party in France, established on 26 November 2017. The majority of its founding members were previously associated with the Constructive faction within the centre-right Republicans. Styling itself as a "liberal, social, European, humanist and reformist" party, Agir was founded by a group of 19 established politicians as an alternative to The Republicans. The party merged with Renaissance as an "associate party" in 2022.
The Radical Movement, officially the Radical, Social and Liberal Movement, was a liberal, radical and social-liberal political party in France.
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.
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.
Centrism in France has played a major role in French politics over many decades. This page presents the parties, political movements and personalities linked to Centrism in France according to their political traditions or their background. The different families of centrism are presented in the different sections.
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.
The New Popular Front is a broad left-wing electoral alliance in France. It was launched on 10 June 2024 to contest the 2024 French legislative election following the gains of far-right parties in the 2024 European Parliament election in France. The Front stood in opposition to both Ensemble, the presidential camp of Emmanuel Macron, as well as the far-right National Rally.
France entered a political crisis after the 2024 French legislative election organized by the French president Emmanuel Macron in June 2024, which resulted in a hung parliament with the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) leading a plurality of seats. The French government submitted its resignation on 15 July 2024 but was kept in place by the president pending negotiations to appoint a new prime minister to form a new government.