| Parliament name (generic / translated) |
Parlement / Parliament |
| Structure of parliament |
Bicameral |
| Chamber name (generic / translated) |
Assemblée nationale / National Assembly |
| Related chamber (for bicameral parliaments) |
Sénat / Senate
|
| LEGAL FRAMEWORK |
| Electoral Law |
27 October 1964
Last amendment: 14 April 2011 |
| Mode of designation |
directly elected 577 |
| Constituencies |
577 single-member constituencies:
- 556 for metropolitan France
- 10 for overseas departments ("collectivités territoriales")
- 11 for French citizens living abroad". |
| Voting system |
Majority:
Single-Member Majoritarian Systems in two rounds
A candidate is elected in the first round if he/she obtains an absolute majority of the total votes cast, provided this amount is equal to a quarter of the number of registered voters in the particular constituency. In order to be eligible for the second round, candidates must have obtained a number of votes equal to at least 12.5% of the total number of registered voters. However, if only one candidate fulfils this condition, the person who polls the second largest number of votes in the first ballot may also participate in the second at which, to be elected, a simple majority suffices.
Should a seat become vacant during the course of a legislature, the alternate who was elected along with the titular candidate is called on to fill the seat if the titular candidate is deceased or appointed to a government post or to sit on the Constitutional Council or if the titular candidate has been called away on a temporary mission assigned by the government and extended for a period exceeding six months; in all other cases, by-elections are held within the three months following vacation of the seat (unless the vacancy arises in the final year of the legislature.
Voting is not compulsory. |
| Voter requirements |
- Age: 18 years
- French citizenship
- Disqualifications: persons under guardianship, forfeiture of voting rights as a result of certain penal sentences |
| CANDIDATES |
| Eligibility |
Qualified electors
- Age: 18 years
- French citizenship
- Persons who have fulfilled their obligations under the law on national (military) service
- ineligibility: persons under guardianship and those deprived of their eligibility as a result of certain penal sentences, serious breaches of campaign financing legislation, failure to declare assets, judicial liquidation, undischarged bankrupts, functions involving authority in home constituency (relative ineligibility) |
| Incompatibilities |
- Members of the Government
- Members of the Constitutional Council
- Members of the European Parliament
- Senators
- Members of the Economic and Social Council
- Judges, civil servants, career members of the armed forces
- Holders of non-elected public office
- Posts attributed and remunerated by a foreign State or an international organization
- Managers or directors of national enterprises or national public establishments
- Managers or directors of firms:
1) benefiting from State or local government administration subsidies;
2) working principally for or under the control of the State or other public person;
3) entitled to public savings; and
4) involved in real estate.
These incompatibilities are not applicable to posts held by members of parliament in:
1) regional or local establishments provided that the deputies were appointed to serve in a local capacity;
2) public private regional or local firms; and
3) establishments with an exclusively social purpose.
- Consultancies accepted during the term of office,
- Holding more than one of the following posts: regional councillor, general councillor, municipal councillor of a commune with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants. |
| Candidacy requirements |
- Submission of candidature four Fridays before polling day
- Simultaneous submission of name of alternate
- Designation of a representative by date of candidature registration
- If the candidate obtains at least 5 per cent of the votes cast in the constituency concerned in one of the two rounds of voting, the cost of paper, ballot printing, posters, flyers and the cost of displaying posters are reimbursed. |
Compare data for parliamentary chambers in the Electoral system module
