Legislative elections in France were held on 12 and 19 June 2022 to elect the 577 members of the 16th National Assembly of the Fifth French Republic. The elections took place following the

2022 French presidential election The 2022 French presidential election was held 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, f ...

, 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 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and subsequent change of the electoral calendar in 2002. For the first time since

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, the incumbent president of France does not have an absolute majority in Parliament. As no alliance won a

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

. The legislative elections were contested between four principal blocs: the centrist presidential majority Ensemble coalition, including

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...

's Renaissance, the

Democratic Movement A democracy is a political system, or a system of decision-making within an institution or organization or a country, in which all members have an equal share of power. Modern democracies are characterized by two capabilities that differentiate ...

, Horizons, as well as their allies; the left-wing New Ecological and Social People's Union (NUPES), encompassing La France Insoumise, the Socialist Party, Ecologist Pole and the French Communist Party, among others; the

Union of the Right and Centre The Union of the Right and Centre (french: Union de la droite et du centre; UDC) is a term used in France to designate an electoral alliance between the parties of the right and of the centre. Throughout the Fifth Republic, the Gaullist party ...

(UDC), including The Republicans, the Union of Democrats and Independents, as well as their allies; and the far-right

National Rally The National Rally (french: Rassemblement National, ; RN), until 2018 known as the National Front (french: link=no, Front National, ; FN), is a Far-right politics, far-rightAbridged list of reliable sources that refer to National Rally as fa ...

(RN). The NUPES alliance was formed in the two months following the presidential election, in which the left-wing vote had been fragmented; it consisted of the first French Left alliance since the Plural Left in 1997. In the first round, there was some controversy among the Ministry of the Interior and news media about which bloc finished first, as both the NUPES and Ensemble obtained about 26% of the vote. They were followed by the RN on about 19% and UDC with about 11%. Turnout for the first round was a record-low 47.5%. In the second round, when turnout was higher than that of 2017, Macron's Ensemble coalition secured the most seats (245) but fell 44 seats short of an absolute majority. The NUPES was projected to win 131 (Ministry of the Interior) or 142 seats ('' Le Monde''), while the

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

RN became the largest parliamentary opposition as a party (89). The UDC received enough seats (64 or 71) to be a

kingmaker A kingmaker is a person or group that has great influence on a royal or political succession, without themselves being a viable candidate. Kingmakers may use political, monetary, religious and military means to influence the succession. Origina ...

in the next government but suffered losses. The results were perceived by political commentators as a severe blow for Macron in the aftermath of the 2022 UEFA Champions League Final chaos. They created potential for political instability and gridlock. Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne offered her resignation on 21 June 2022, but Macron refused to accept it. Talks among the various parties to form a stable

majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats. ...

began later on 21 June but rapidly failed. On 6 July, Prime Minister Borne presented her

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...

policy plan to the Parliament.

Background

Following the

2017 French legislative election Legislative elections in France were held on 11 and 18 June 2017 (with different dates for voters overseas) to elect the 577 members of the 15th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. They followed the two-round presidential election won by ...

, the incumbent president

's party,

La République En Marche! Renaissance (RE), previously known as La République En Marche ! (frequently abbreviated LREM, LaREM or REM; translated as "The Republic on the Move" or "Republic Forward"), or sometimes called simply En Marche ! () as its original name, is a l ...

(LREM), and its allies held a majority in the National Assembly (577 seats). The

LREM group The Together for the Republic Group (french: Groupe Ensemble pour la République), previously La République En Marche group (french: Groupe La République en marche) until 2022 and as Renaissance Deputies until 2024, is a parliamentary group in t ...

had 308 deputies, the

Democratic Movement and affiliated democrats group The The Democrats group (french: Groupe Les Démocrates), known as the Democratic, MoDem and Independents group (french: Groupe démocrate, MoDem et indépendants) until 2024, is a parliamentary group in the National Assembly of France including ...

had 42 deputies, and Agir ensemble, which was created in November 2017, had 9 deputies. Although a proposal to have part of the French Parliament elected with a proportional representation system was included in Macron's platform in 2017, this election promise was not fulfilled. A similar promise was made by

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. He previously was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) from 1997 to 2008, Mayor of Tulle from ...

during the

2012 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: E ...

. Macron, from the centrist LREM, had defeated

Marine Le Pen Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen (; born 5 August 1968) is a French lawyer and politician who ran for the French presidency in 2012, 2017, and 2022. A member of the National Rally (RN; previously the National Front, FN), she served as its pre ...

, leader of the far-right

, 66–34% in the

2017 French presidential election The 2017 French presidential election was held 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 Nationa ...

. The

was held on 10 and 24 April. As no candidate won a

majority A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from #Related terms, related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Websterrunoff was held, in which Macron defeated Le Pen 58–41% and was reelected as President of France. In the first round, Macron took the lead with 27.9% of votes, while Valérie Pécresse, the candidate for the Republicans, took under 5% of the vote in the first round, the worst result in the history of the party or its Gaullist predecessors. Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, received 1.75% of the vote, the worst in the history of the Socialist Party (PS). With more than 30% of the vote, it was the best result for French far-right figures since the founding of the Fifth French Republic with the 1958 French presidential election.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon Jean-Luc Antoine Pierre Mélenchon (; born 19 August 1951) is a French politician who was a member of the National Assembly for the 4th constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône from 2017 to 2022. He led the ''La France Insoumise'' group in the Nation ...

of La France Insoumise (LFI) came third in the first round with 21.95% of the vote and 1.2% behind second-placed Le Pen, also coming first in the 18–24 and 25–34 age groups, as well in Île-de-France, the most populous region of France. In the context of the legislative election common participation, as the largest French Left force in the presidential election, LFI sought to unite the main left-leaning parties around the banner of the New Ecological and Social People's Union, or NUPES. Discussions were held with Europe Ecology – The Greens, including the Ecologist Pole, as well as the French Communist Party, which joined the coalition on 2–3 May 2022, respectively; the PS reached an agreement to join the coalition on 4 May, which was confirmed by a National Council party vote on 5 May. This resulted in the first wide left-wing alliance since the Plural Left in the

1997 French legislative election A French legislative election took place on 25 May and 1 June 1997 to elect the 11th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic. It was the consequence of President Jacques Chirac's decision to call the legislative election one year before ...

. Discussion with the

Federation of the Republican Left The Federation of the Republican Left (french: Fédération de la gauche républicaine; FGR) is a French political coalition of several small centre-left to left-wing parties. Announced on 29 April 2022, following the 2022 French presidential el ...

(FGR), which wanted to join NUPES, went unanswered; the FGR then formed alliances with the Radical Party of the Left, which internally rejected integration into NUPES, and the dissident minority in the PS, among the miscellaneous left. Their candidates presented themselves as part of the "secular and republican" left between Macron and Mélenchon. The

New Anticapitalist Party The New Anticapitalist Party (french: Nouveau Parti anticapitaliste , abbreviated NPA) is a far-left political party in France founded in February 2009. The party launched with 9,200 members and was intended to unify the fractured movements of ...

announced it would not enter the coalition due to what they called insurmountable ideological differences with the PS, while Lutte Ouvrière announced that the party would run its own slate separate from NUPES, which they believe to be reformist. On 5 May 2022, LREM changed its name to Renaissance, introducing its big tent coalition for the legislative election made up of the presidential majority parties called

Ensemble Citoyens Ensemble () is a liberal political coalition in France. Formed in November 2021 as Ensemble Citoyens, it includes Renaissance (REN), formerly known as En Marche, Democratic Movement (MoDem) Horizons, En commun, and the Progressive Federation. ...

(Ensemble). On 16 May, Macron appointed Élisabeth Borne as Prime Minister, replacing Jean Castex. Borne, a member of Renaissance and formerly of the PS, was serving as Macron's Minister of Labour, Employment and Economic Inclusion prior to her appointment as prime minister. She is only the second woman to hold the office.

Electoral system

The 577 members of the National Assembly, known as deputies, are elected for five years by a two-round system in single-member constituencies. A candidate who receives an absolute majority of valid votes and a vote total greater than 25% of the registered electorate is elected in the first round. If no candidate reaches this threshold, a runoff election is held between the top two candidates plus any other candidate who received a vote total greater than 12.5% of registered voters. The candidate who receives the most votes in the second round is elected.

Dates

According to the provisions of the Electoral Code, the election must be held within the sixty days which precede the expiry of the powers of the outgoing National Assembly, attached to the third Tuesday of June, five years after its election, except in the event of dissolution of the National Assembly. The end of the mandate of the Assembly elected in 2017 is set for 21 June 2022. The dates for the legislative elections in mainland France were set for 12 and 19 June. Declarations of candidacy must be submitted no later than 20 May for the first round and 14 June for the second round. French nationals who live abroad were able to vote in the days preceding the ballot.

Major parties and alliances contesting

Below are the major parties and alliances contesting the elections, listed by their combined results in the previous elections. According to '' Le Journal du dimanche'', the elections are mainly contested between three blocs: a left-wing bloc (NUPES), a presidential bloc on the center-right (Ensemble), and a far-right bloc.

Deputies not standing for reelection

Opinion polls

Results

First round

After the first round, the New Ecological and Social People's Union (NUPES) and

(Ensemble) obtained about 26%. Amid significant losses on the

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...

of the political spectrum for the Republicans (LR) and the

(UDC), results for

's Ensemble alliance showed it was now the centre-right, having performed strongly among the traditionally centre-right electorate of UDC. The French far-right achieved mixed results; while the

(RN) achieved 18% and was likely to obtain the necessary seats to form a parliamentary group, Éric Zemmour's Reconquête reached 4%, and both he and the party failed to win a seat, and former RN leader

had to go through the second round for her seat due to low turnout. In contests between NUPES and RN candidates, officials from Ensemble said they would decide on a "case-by-case basis" on whether or not to support a candidate. Élisabeth Borne,

Prime Minister of France The prime minister of France (french: link=no, Premier ministre français), officially the prime minister of the French Republic, is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of the Council of Ministers. The prime minister ...

, said: "Our position is no vote for RN." At the same time, she expressed support only for NUPES candidates who in her view respect republican values. The first round confirmed that La France Insoumise (LFI) within NUPES and among the French Left, while the centre-left dissidents achieved a much lower numbers of votes like the

; of the over 70 dissident candidates, only 15 qualified for the second round. The first round was marked by a record low turnout at 47.5%. Additionally, there was some controversy in the results between the Ministry of the Interior and French news outlets, such as France Info and '' Le Monde'', in particular on whether NUPES or Ensemble finished first; This was due to disagreements on whether left-wing candidates should be considered within the NUPES framework or not; similar discrepancies also existed for UDC and other alliances. NUPES finished either second (per the Ministry of the Interior) or first (per ''Le Monde''), slightly behind or ahead of Ensemble (25.75–25.66% per the Ministry of the Interior and 26.1–25.9% per ''Le Monde'').

Second round

The second round had a higher turnout than that in the

but did not match that of the first round in 2020. The Ensemble alliance slightly underperforming polls and lost their absolute majority in Parliament, while still winning the most seats. NUPES slightly underperformed from polling but still managed to substantially increase their proportion of seats and was to reported to have won 131 seats per the Ministry of the Interior. RN substantially overperformed polls to win an unprecedented 89 seats and become the largest parliamentary opposition group due to each component party of NUPES intending to form their own parliamentary group, eclipsing the UDC coalition, which received enough seats to be a

in the next government but lost seats as expected, and was projected to win 75 seats. It was the best performance for the far right in the era of the French Fifth Republic, and the best overall since the late 19th century. Several news outlets, such as

Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, D.C ...

, gave a different result as to the final seat count, with Ensemble on 247, NUPES on 142, and UDC on 64, respectively, per ''Le Monde''. This was due to differences as to candidates, particularly in the French overseas constituencies, being classified as members of these alliances or not. The elections resulted in a hung parliament, as Ensemble had only a relative majority (a plurality). It was the first hung parliament since the establishment of the five-year presidential term after the

2000 French constitutional referendum A constitutional referendum was held in France on 24 September 2000.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p674 The proposal to reduce the mandate of the President from seven years to five years was app ...

, as well as the first relative majority only since the

1988 French legislative election French legislative elections took place on 5 and 12 June 1988, to elect the ninth National Assembly of the Fifth Republic, one month after the re-election of François Mitterrand as President of France. In 1986, the Socialist Party (PS) of Pr ...

. The overall results were seen as a disavowal and major blow for Macron, with a risk of political instability and gridlock. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire called the outcome a "democratic shock", and said that if the other blocs did not cooperate, "this would block our capacity to reform and protect the French". Prime Minister Borne commented: "The result is a risk for our country in view of the challenges we have to face." LR, the leading party of UDC, was thought to be the kingmaker and potentially play a role for Macron to keep his presidential majority; however, Christian Jacob, the president of LR and the leader of UDC, stated that his party would remain in opposition, meaning Macron's party would not remain in control of the legislature. Mélenchon called the results "disappointing" and said that NUPES and the French Left should form a united, single parliamentary group to avoid RN from becoming the largest opposition group in Parliament, which was refused by leaders of Europe Ecology – The Greens (EELV), French Communist Party (PCF), and Socialist Party (PS).

National results

, - style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right" , - , colspan="13" , National Assembly 2022

, - ! style="text-align:center" colspan="3" rowspan="2", Parties and coalitions ! colspan="3", First round ! colspan="3", Second round ! colspan="2", Total , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center" ! width="75", Votes ! width="30", % ! width="30", Seats ! width="75", Votes ! width="30", % ! width="30", Seats ! width="30", Seats ! +/- , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Ensemble , ENS , 5,857,364 , 25.75 , 1 , 8,002,419 , 38.57 , 244 , 245 , style="text-align:centre;", , - , style="background-color:#BB1840", , style="text-align:left;", , NUPES , 5,836,079 , 25.66 , 4 , 6,556,198 , 31.60 , 127 , 131 , style="text-align:centre;", 79 , - , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;",

, RN , 4,248,537 , 18.68 , 0 , 3,589,465 , 17.30 , 89 , 89 , style="text-align:centre;", 81 , - , style="background-color:#B9DAFF", , style="text-align:left;",

, UDC , 2,568,502 , 11.29 , 0 , 1,512,281 , 7.29 , 64 , 64 , style="text-align:centre;", 66 , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Reconquête , REC , 964,775 , 4.24 , 0 , – , – , 0 , 0 , style="text-align:centre;", ''New'' , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Miscellaneous left , DVG , 713,574 , 3.14 , 0 , 408,706 , 1.97 , 21 , 21 , style="text-align:centre;", 9 , - , style="background-color:#77ff77", , style="text-align:left;", Ecologists , ECO , 608,314 , 2.67 , 0 , – , – , 0 , 0 , style="text-align:centre;", 1 , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Miscellaneous right , DVD , 530,782 , 2.33 , 0 , 231,071 , 1.11 , 10 , 10 , style="text-align:centre;", 4 , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Regionalists , REG , 291,384 , 1.28 , 0 , 264,779 , 1.28 , 10 , 10 , style="text-align:centre;", 5 , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Miscellaneous centre , DVC , 283,612 , 1.25 , 0 , 99,145 , 0.48 , 4 , 4 , style="text-align:centre;", 4 , - , style="background-color:#bb0000", , style="text-align:left;", Miscellaneous far-left , DXG , 266,412 , 1.17 , 0 , 11,229 , 0.05 , 0 , 0 , style="text-align:centre;", 0 , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Sovereignist right , DSV , 249,603 , 1.10 , 0 , 19,306 , 0.09 , 1 , 1 , style="text-align:centre;", 0 , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;", Miscellaneous , DIV , 192,624 , 0.85 , 0 , 18,295 , 0.09 , 1 , 1 , style="text-align:centre;", 2 , - , style="background-color:;", , style="text-align:left;", Radical Party of the Left , PRG , 126,689 , 0.56 , 0 , 34,576 , 0.17 , 1 , 1 , style="text-align:centre;", 2 , - , style="background-color:#404040", , style="text-align:left;", Miscellaneous far-right , DXD , 6,457 , 0.03 , 0 , – , – , 0 , 0 , style="text-align:centre;", 1 , - , style="background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan="13", , - style="font-weight:bold" , style="text-align:left" colspan="3", Total , 22,744,708 , 100.00 , 5 , 20,747,470 , 100.00 , 572 , 577 , , - , style="background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan="12", , - , style="text-align:left" colspan="3", Valid votes , 22,744,708 , 97.80 , style="background-color:#E9E9E9" rowspan="6", , 20,747,470 , 92.36 , style="background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan="3" rowspan="6", , - , style="text-align:left" colspan="3", Blank ballots , 362,193 , 1.56 , 1,235,844 , 5.50 , - , style="text-align:left" colspan="3", Null ballots , 149,306 , 0.64 , 480,962 , 2.14 , - , style="text-align:left" colspan="3", Turnout , 23,256,207 , 47.51 , 22,464,276 , 46.23 , - , style="text-align:left" colspan="3", Abstentions , 25,697,541 , 52.49 , 26,125,084 , 53.77 , - , style="text-align:left" colspan="3", Registered voters , 48,953,748 , style="background-color:#E9E9E9", , 48,589,360 , style="background-color:#E9E9E9", , - , style="background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan="12", , - , style="text-align:left" colspan="12", Source
Ministry of the Interior

Results by constituency

;2022 French legislative election map results by constituency File:2022 French Legislative Election First Round Simplified.svg, Simplified map shows which group led in each seat after the 1st round. File:Simplified 2022 French Legislative Election Results Map Second Round.svg, Simplified map shows which group won in each seat after the 2nd round. File:2022 French Legislative Election Results Map Second Round Parties.svg, Winning party in each constituency after the 2nd round.

Electorate

Aftermath

Due to the Ensemble's loss of 100+ seats, they were now 44 seats shy of a majority in the National Assembly, and need to find support among other MPs from the left or the right side of politics to help build a working

. President Macron asked Prime Minister Borne, who offered her resignation, to stay in office with the same cabinet in an effort to gain time according to analysts to form a stable government, with or without Borne. LFI requested a vote of no confidence to be held on 5 July. Despite not ruling out any deal with any party, it is speculated that Macron and Ensemble are eyeing a deal with UDC. Despite previously stating otherwise, UDC's Jacob confirmed that he would take part in talks with Macron. RN's Le Pen and the leaders of two NUPES parties,

Olivier Faure Olivier Faure (French: �livie fɔʁ born 18 August 1968) is a French politician who has served as the First Secretary of the Socialist Party since 2018 and Member of the National Assembly for Seine-et-Marne's 11th constituency since 2012. He ...

(PS) and Fabien Roussel (PCF), stated that they would take part in talks with Macron. LFI's Mélenchon confirmed that he would not take part in talks.

Parliamentary groups formation

Vote of no confidence

Shortly after the election, a vote of no confidence was tabled by the left-wing NUPES coalition. It was rejected as only left-wing parliamentary groups supported the motion. Prime Minister Borne offered her resignation on 21 June 2022, but President Macron refused to accept it. Talks among the various parties to form a stable

began later on 21 June but rapidly failed. On 6 July, Borne presented her

policy plan to the Parliament."Discours de politique générale sans vote de confiance : comment Elisabeth Borne prépare son baptême du feu"
''Le Parisien'' (in French), 4 July 2022.

Notes

References

{{2022 French legislative election 2022 elections in France June 2022 events in France France June 2022 events in Europe Legislative elections in France