French Election: A Break Down of the Big Winners and Losers

General comments

• 577 seats renewed at the National Assembly, the most important chamber of the French Parliament;
• The second round confirms the solid victory of President Macron’s party, La République En Marche (LREM), although slightly below the latest forecast, with a total of 350 seats obtained by its candidates and those of the ally party Modem, representing more than 60% of the National Assembly. This absolute majority should allow the new President to adopt his forthcoming reforms.
• The center-right party Les Republicains comes second, with 137 seats, while the Left is severely weaken with 46 seats only for the Socialist Party and 27 for the extreme-left party France Insoumise. Marine Le Pen’s Front National does better than expected and manages to obtain a record of 8 seats.
• Abstention was even higher than in the first round, with a turnout rate of 43.4% against 56.3% in 2012.

Number of seats obtained by each party (majority = 289 seats):

• La République En Marche (Party of President Macron) and ally Modem: 350 seats
• Les Républicains/UDI (Center-right): 137 seats
• Socialist Party and allies : 46 seats
• France Insoumise (far-left) : 27 seats
• Front National (far-right): 8 seats

Next steps

• June 19, appointment of a new Government based on the legislative results.
• Week of June 26^th: MPs to elect their representatives: President, Vice-President and Secretaries of the National Assembly, President of each of the 8 Permanent Committee. The political groups will also elect their Chair.
• July 4^th (expected): Summoning of an extraordinary parliamentary session during the month of July and possibly until beginning or even mid-August, to discuss and vote on the Labor bill and on the Government’s first projects (anti-corruption and conflict of interest rules for public office representatives; alleviate the burden imposed by current corporate rules, in particular for SMEs…).

Background elements:

• The National Assembly is one of the two houses, with the Senate, composing the French Parliament. The National Assembly is composed of 577 members elected for a 5-year mandate through a direct suffrage system organized by constituency. The 2012-2017 legislature was led by a left-wing majority formed by the Socialist Party and its allies.
• Both houses discuss and adopt the laws, but the National Assembly has the most significant role and powers, notably as it has the final say in case of continued disagreement with the other house during the law-making process. Moreover, the French institutional tradition is that the Government is formed from within the party that has obtained the majority of seats in the National Assembly.