Here's what you need to know about the French parliamentary elections
Here are key facts you need to know about the upcoming elections in France, including why on earth are there nearly 8,000 candidates?
France votes in two-round elections on June 11th and 18th seen as a major test for new President Emmanuel Macron, keen to win a strong parliamentary majority to push through reforms.
His victory in May presidential ballots was a political earthquake for France, and the electoral landscape has not yet settled, with all to play for in the legislative polls.
Here are key facts you need to know about the upcoming elections:
How it works
There are 577 lawmakers up for election, including 11 who represent French who live overseas. Each constituency represents about 125,000 inhabitants.
If no candidate wins over 50 percent in the first round, the two top-placed go into the second round -- as well as any candidate who won the votes of over 12.5 percent of voters on the electoral register (which is believed to represent around 20 to 21 percent of the vote).
A total of 7,882 candidates are standing nationwide in a process expected to produce a deep renewal of parliament -- not least because over 200 of the outgoing lawmakers are not standing for re-election.
The average candidate's age is 48.5 years old and more than 42 percent are women. In the outgoing parliament women represented only 26.9 percent of deputies, or 155 out of 577, which was itself a record.
How many candidates are there?
In all there are 7882 candidates. That’s an average of 13.7 candidates per constituency! Why so many?
Indeed there are a number of seats where there are more than 20 people fighting for the same seat.
This could well be down to money. All parties, large and small are in with a chance of gaining valuable state cash through these elections.
There are two types of state aid available; one, of €1.42 per vote as long as the party gets at least 1% in at least 50 constituencies. The second type of aid is the €37.280 given to parties for each elected member of parliament that they have. This aid is given out annually at a cost of around €63 million to the French taxpayer. This continues until the next such election in five years time.
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High stakes
The media-savvy Macron is hoping to use the momentum from his presidential victory over seriously weakened traditional right and leftwing parties to build a large majority in parliament.
The far-right National Front of his defeated rival Marine Le Pen and the radical left will both also be seeking to win as many seats as possible.
With half of his Republique En Marche (Republic On the Move, REM) movement candidates coming from civil society, he hopes notably to tackle reform of the traditionally thorny issue of labour law.
If he fails to win an absolute majority -- 289 out of 577 seats in parliament -- it would complicate his job as president, as he would have to build a coalition with right and left.
THE RUNNERS
The Republicans
The party of ex-PM and scandal-wracked former presidential candidate Francois Fillon is hoping to take its revenge, even to impose a rightwing cohabitation on the new centrist president. But with 50 lawmakers not standing again, it could lose more support to REM.
Jean-Luc Melenchon
The Communist-backed socialist scored 19.6 percent in the first round of the presidential ballot. His La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) movement is putting up candidates in 500 constituencies, and hopes to win at least 15 seats in the National Assembly to form a parliamentary group.
National Front
Weakened after the poorer-than-expected score by its leader Marine Le Pen in the presidential run-off against Emmanuel Macron (33.9 percent), the National Front nonetheless wants to present itself as the main opposition, with 10.7 million voters.
The far-right party hopes to win at least in the 45 constituencies where Le Pen won more than 50 percent in the head-to-head on May 7, but it could be an uphill battle, especially after the withdrawal from political life of her
niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen, which dealt the party a blow in its southern heartland.
Socialist Party
The left-wing party needs to avoid all-out collapse. After a historically low score in the first round of the presidential election (6.3 percent for Benoit Hamon), the stakes could hardly be higher. Part of its electorate has left for Macron, others for La France Insoumise.
Some are already bracing for another bleak election night for a party which has long been one of the two mainstream forces in French politics. Older heads recall the debacle of 1993 which produced 57 socialist and allied deputies, in what would turn them into a residual group plunged back into crisis.
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France votes in two-round elections on June 11th and 18th seen as a major test for new President Emmanuel Macron, keen to win a strong parliamentary majority to push through reforms.
His victory in May presidential ballots was a political earthquake for France, and the electoral landscape has not yet settled, with all to play for in the legislative polls.
Here are key facts you need to know about the upcoming elections:
How it works
There are 577 lawmakers up for election, including 11 who represent French who live overseas. Each constituency represents about 125,000 inhabitants.
If no candidate wins over 50 percent in the first round, the two top-placed go into the second round -- as well as any candidate who won the votes of over 12.5 percent of voters on the electoral register (which is believed to represent around 20 to 21 percent of the vote).
A total of 7,882 candidates are standing nationwide in a process expected to produce a deep renewal of parliament -- not least because over 200 of the outgoing lawmakers are not standing for re-election.
The average candidate's age is 48.5 years old and more than 42 percent are women. In the outgoing parliament women represented only 26.9 percent of deputies, or 155 out of 577, which was itself a record.
How many candidates are there?
High stakes
The media-savvy Macron is hoping to use the momentum from his presidential victory over seriously weakened traditional right and leftwing parties to build a large majority in parliament.
The far-right National Front of his defeated rival Marine Le Pen and the radical left will both also be seeking to win as many seats as possible.
With half of his Republique En Marche (Republic On the Move, REM) movement candidates coming from civil society, he hopes notably to tackle reform of the traditionally thorny issue of labour law.
If he fails to win an absolute majority -- 289 out of 577 seats in parliament -- it would complicate his job as president, as he would have to build a coalition with right and left.
THE RUNNERS
The Republicans
The party of ex-PM and scandal-wracked former presidential candidate Francois Fillon is hoping to take its revenge, even to impose a rightwing cohabitation on the new centrist president. But with 50 lawmakers not standing again, it could lose more support to REM.
Jean-Luc Melenchon
The Communist-backed socialist scored 19.6 percent in the first round of the presidential ballot. His La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) movement is putting up candidates in 500 constituencies, and hopes to win at least 15 seats in the National Assembly to form a parliamentary group.
National Front
Weakened after the poorer-than-expected score by its leader Marine Le Pen in the presidential run-off against Emmanuel Macron (33.9 percent), the National Front nonetheless wants to present itself as the main opposition, with 10.7 million voters.
The far-right party hopes to win at least in the 45 constituencies where Le Pen won more than 50 percent in the head-to-head on May 7, but it could be an uphill battle, especially after the withdrawal from political life of her
niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen, which dealt the party a blow in its southern heartland.
Socialist Party
The left-wing party needs to avoid all-out collapse. After a historically low score in the first round of the presidential election (6.3 percent for Benoit Hamon), the stakes could hardly be higher. Part of its electorate has left for Macron, others for La France Insoumise.
Some are already bracing for another bleak election night for a party which has long been one of the two mainstream forces in French politics. Older heads recall the debacle of 1993 which produced 57 socialist and allied deputies, in what would turn them into a residual group plunged back into crisis.
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