Five maps to understand the French parliamentary election
From political deadlock to far-right gains, here are the essential maps you need to understand what happened in France's 2022 parliamentary elections.
Almost two months after Emmanuel Macron won his re-election campaign - the first French president to do so in France in almost twenty years - the French people have voted not to give him an absolute majority in parliament.
Instead, opposition groups like La Nupes (the leftist coalition) and Rassemblement National (the far-right party led by Marine Le Pen) consolidated large blocs in parliament, enough to make the next five years very complicated for Emmanuel Macron.
Here are the maps you need to visualise what happened in France's parliamentary elections.
The big picture
#legislatives2022 La majorité résiste en Bretagne, forte poussée du RN en Occitanie, l’Ile-de-France coupée en deux...
La carte d’une France sens dessus dessous, circonscription par circonscription ➡️ https://t.co/f00345IJRw pic.twitter.com/MwxuodSQgh
— Le Parisien (@le_Parisien) June 20, 2022
This map shows an overall picture of which parties won which districts across France.
The president's centrist coalition, Ensemble (in yellow), has a lot of the country's west coast of the country to thank for its victories, with regions like Brittany, Pays de la Loire, and Nouvelle Aquitaine providing support for the president's party.
Elsewhere the picture is more fragmented with leftist alliance Nupes (in red), far-right Rassemblement National (dark blue) and centre-right Les Républicains (light blue) all picking up seats around the country, although the far right did well all along the Mediterranean coast.
Macron misery
Résultats des #legislatives2022 : 2 cartes pour visualiser la dégringolade de la majorité présidentielle, qui perd 105 députés
>>https://t.co/ENWICNYOy2 pic.twitter.com/ZZAERfbLGD
— franceinfo plus (@franceinfoplus) June 20, 2022
Nevertheless, the picture for the sitting president is considerably less cheery than it was in 2017.
Though the president's centrist coalition will still be the largest group in parliament, it has lost 105 deputés (MPs) in the last five years.
A significant portion left the party or resigned from their positions in the early days of Macron's first term, while a large chunk lost their seats to candidates from the Rassemblement Nationale and Nupes in Sunday's election.
Health minister Brigitte Bourguignon, maritime minister Justine Benin and environment minister Amélie de Montchalin were among the victims in Sunday, as well as party faithful and current president of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand and former interior minister Christophe Castaner. Ex education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer had been knocked out in the first round.
Left alliance
INFOGRAPHIES. Législatives 2022 : sept graphiques pour analyser les résultats de la Nupes au second tourhttps://t.co/L0iZd1gXP9 pic.twitter.com/bSRTbbMh9B
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) June 20, 2022
Four leftist parties - the hard left La France Insoumise (LFI), the centre left Parti Socialiste (PS), the Greens (EELV) and the Communists (PCF) - came together in this election to form a coalition known as La Nupes (Nouvelle Union populaire, écologique et sociale) and together they won 133 seats, making it the second largest group in the parliament.
In the previous government, the four parties of the left only occupied 60 seats between them, so this represents a significant gain when compared to 2017.
But this doesn't represent a particular shift to the left - the percentage of people voting for La Nupes in the first round in 2022 was 25.78 percent - only a fraction higher (25.38 percent) than the combined result of the four parties of La Nupes in 2017. However, by forming the pre-election pact the leftist parties agreed not to stand candidates against each other, and therefore turned their vote share into a larger number of seats in parliament.
This map shows which factions within the leftist coalition won parliamentary seats, and where they were successful. It remains to be seen how well the coalition will be maintained in the coming months, as the parties hold differing perspectives on key issues.
The rise of the far-right
CARTE. Législatives 2022 : visualisez la percée du Rassemblement national depuis 2017: Le scrutin des élections législatives de 2022 est marqué par une progression historique du Rassemblement national. Le parti d’extrême droite a remporté 89… https://t.co/A2evdBTE07 pic.twitter.com/84vgoaSaSS
— Metropolitic Nantes 🔁 Robot de retweet (@MetropoliticBot) June 20, 2022
Shocking pollsters and election experts alike, France's far-right party, Le Rassemblement Nationale (RN), won 89 seats in parliament.
Previously, the party only won eight in 2017. It represents a historic record for the far-right in France, and an encroaching change for France's traditional political geography, where the south of the country once represented a stronghold for the left.
The RN is now the largest single-party opposition bloc in France's parliament.
The real winner: abstention
L’abstention a atteint, pour le second tour des #legislatives2022, 53,77% des suffrages. Dans certaines circonscriptions, plus de huit Français sur dix n’ont pas été voter
La carte et les clés pour comprendre l’abstention du second tour ➡️ https://t.co/CN2Nex8iZO pic.twitter.com/MR3csCbDl8
— Le Parisien (@le_Parisien) June 20, 2022
Over half of French people - about 54.77 percent - did not participate in the second round of the parliamentary elections.
Early analysis shows that age and household income played a role in who voted and who did not: only 29 percent of 18-24 year olds and 36 percent of people living in a household with a total income of less than €1,200 per month went to the polls.
Un graphique du @Monde A méditer. pic.twitter.com/972Y4n4nkT
— Huet Sylvestre (@HuetSylvestre) June 20, 2022
And finally . . . Zemmour
The below map shows the total number of seats gained by extreme right TV pundit-turned politician Eric Zemmour - a big, fat zero.
La carte de France avec l’implantation précise des candidats de #Reconquête au #legislatives2022 au second tour. pic.twitter.com/XMsDCtFjTt
— G E N E R A L (@GeneralInsou) June 14, 2022
Zemmour's Reconquête and his party did not gain a single seat and all its candidates - including Zemmour himself - were knocked out in the first round.
His total vote share was just four percent, falling from seven percent in the presidential elections in April.
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Almost two months after Emmanuel Macron won his re-election campaign - the first French president to do so in France in almost twenty years - the French people have voted not to give him an absolute majority in parliament.
Instead, opposition groups like La Nupes (the leftist coalition) and Rassemblement National (the far-right party led by Marine Le Pen) consolidated large blocs in parliament, enough to make the next five years very complicated for Emmanuel Macron.
Here are the maps you need to visualise what happened in France's parliamentary elections.
The big picture
#legislatives2022 La majorité résiste en Bretagne, forte poussée du RN en Occitanie, l’Ile-de-France coupée en deux...
— Le Parisien (@le_Parisien) June 20, 2022
La carte d’une France sens dessus dessous, circonscription par circonscription ➡️ https://t.co/f00345IJRw pic.twitter.com/MwxuodSQgh
This map shows an overall picture of which parties won which districts across France.
The president's centrist coalition, Ensemble (in yellow), has a lot of the country's west coast of the country to thank for its victories, with regions like Brittany, Pays de la Loire, and Nouvelle Aquitaine providing support for the president's party.
Elsewhere the picture is more fragmented with leftist alliance Nupes (in red), far-right Rassemblement National (dark blue) and centre-right Les Républicains (light blue) all picking up seats around the country, although the far right did well all along the Mediterranean coast.
Macron misery
Résultats des #legislatives2022 : 2 cartes pour visualiser la dégringolade de la majorité présidentielle, qui perd 105 députés
— franceinfo plus (@franceinfoplus) June 20, 2022
>>https://t.co/ENWICNYOy2 pic.twitter.com/ZZAERfbLGD
Nevertheless, the picture for the sitting president is considerably less cheery than it was in 2017.
Though the president's centrist coalition will still be the largest group in parliament, it has lost 105 deputés (MPs) in the last five years.
A significant portion left the party or resigned from their positions in the early days of Macron's first term, while a large chunk lost their seats to candidates from the Rassemblement Nationale and Nupes in Sunday's election.
Health minister Brigitte Bourguignon, maritime minister Justine Benin and environment minister Amélie de Montchalin were among the victims in Sunday, as well as party faithful and current president of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand and former interior minister Christophe Castaner. Ex education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer had been knocked out in the first round.
Left alliance
INFOGRAPHIES. Législatives 2022 : sept graphiques pour analyser les résultats de la Nupes au second tourhttps://t.co/L0iZd1gXP9 pic.twitter.com/bSRTbbMh9B
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) June 20, 2022
Four leftist parties - the hard left La France Insoumise (LFI), the centre left Parti Socialiste (PS), the Greens (EELV) and the Communists (PCF) - came together in this election to form a coalition known as La Nupes (Nouvelle Union populaire, écologique et sociale) and together they won 133 seats, making it the second largest group in the parliament.
In the previous government, the four parties of the left only occupied 60 seats between them, so this represents a significant gain when compared to 2017.
But this doesn't represent a particular shift to the left - the percentage of people voting for La Nupes in the first round in 2022 was 25.78 percent - only a fraction higher (25.38 percent) than the combined result of the four parties of La Nupes in 2017. However, by forming the pre-election pact the leftist parties agreed not to stand candidates against each other, and therefore turned their vote share into a larger number of seats in parliament.
This map shows which factions within the leftist coalition won parliamentary seats, and where they were successful. It remains to be seen how well the coalition will be maintained in the coming months, as the parties hold differing perspectives on key issues.
The rise of the far-right
CARTE. Législatives 2022 : visualisez la percée du Rassemblement national depuis 2017: Le scrutin des élections législatives de 2022 est marqué par une progression historique du Rassemblement national. Le parti d’extrême droite a remporté 89… https://t.co/A2evdBTE07 pic.twitter.com/84vgoaSaSS
— Metropolitic Nantes 🔁 Robot de retweet (@MetropoliticBot) June 20, 2022
Shocking pollsters and election experts alike, France's far-right party, Le Rassemblement Nationale (RN), won 89 seats in parliament.
Previously, the party only won eight in 2017. It represents a historic record for the far-right in France, and an encroaching change for France's traditional political geography, where the south of the country once represented a stronghold for the left.
The RN is now the largest single-party opposition bloc in France's parliament.
The real winner: abstention
L’abstention a atteint, pour le second tour des #legislatives2022, 53,77% des suffrages. Dans certaines circonscriptions, plus de huit Français sur dix n’ont pas été voter
— Le Parisien (@le_Parisien) June 20, 2022
La carte et les clés pour comprendre l’abstention du second tour ➡️ https://t.co/CN2Nex8iZO pic.twitter.com/MR3csCbDl8
Over half of French people - about 54.77 percent - did not participate in the second round of the parliamentary elections.
Early analysis shows that age and household income played a role in who voted and who did not: only 29 percent of 18-24 year olds and 36 percent of people living in a household with a total income of less than €1,200 per month went to the polls.
Un graphique du @Monde A méditer. pic.twitter.com/972Y4n4nkT
— Huet Sylvestre (@HuetSylvestre) June 20, 2022
And finally . . . Zemmour
The below map shows the total number of seats gained by extreme right TV pundit-turned politician Eric Zemmour - a big, fat zero.
La carte de France avec l’implantation précise des candidats de #Reconquête au #legislatives2022 au second tour. pic.twitter.com/XMsDCtFjTt
— G E N E R A L (@GeneralInsou) June 14, 2022
Zemmour's Reconquête and his party did not gain a single seat and all its candidates - including Zemmour himself - were knocked out in the first round.
His total vote share was just four percent, falling from seven percent in the presidential elections in April.
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