Chamber:
	Assemblée nationale
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	9 June 2002 16 June 2002
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held for all the seats in the National Assembly on the normal expiry of the members' term of office.
Background and outcome of elections:
	The French went to the polls on 9 and 16 June 2002 to elect the 577 new members of the National Assembly. The electoral campaign took place in the wake of the presidential elections held in April 2002 which resulted in Mr. Le Pen, leader of the National Front, faceing outgoing President Jacques Chirac in the second round. Mr. Jospin, outgoing Prime Minister and also a candidate, resigned as head of the Socialist Party and did not stand in the legislative elections after placing third in the first round of the presidential elections, behind Mr. Chirac and Mr. Le Pen. During the campaign, the new Union for the Presidential Majority (UMP), formed by the Rally for the Republic, Liberal Democracy and some members of the Union for French Democracy (UDF), asked voters to give President Chirac a clear and coherent majority in the National Assembly in order to avoid yet another legislative term of "cohabitation". For its part, the Socialist Party signed agreements with the Greens and the Communist Party (PC) to put forward joint candidatures in electoral districts where the the far right threatened to eliminate the left if the latter fielded several rival candidatures in the first round. The general elections were marked by a record number of candidates, some 8600, over a third more than in the previous elections held in 1997. In the first round, the UMP polled 33.31 per cent. The Socialist Party won 23.94 per cent of the votes, i.e. three points less than in 1997, while the Greens obtained a scant 4.47 per cent, practically the same score as the Communist Party (4.95 per cent). Political analysts were of the opinion that the Greens and the PC had been victims of tactical voting for the Socialist Party to avoid what voters feared, namely a repeat performance of the first round of the presidential elections. Far left and far right parties suffered major setbacks. Contrary to the first round of the presidential elections, the National Front obtained only 11.23 per cent, some four points less than in the legislative elections of 1997. In the second round, turnout was down by more than three points when compared with the first round figure of 35.58%. The victory of the right, which had already begun to take shape at the close of the first round, materialised in the second round with an absolute majority for the UMP which won 355 seats. The Socialist Party, which had previously held 248 seats, kept only 140 seats in the new National Assembly. The Union for French Democracy obtained 29 seats, as against a mere 21 for the Communists and Republicans. The Greens, which had secured eight seats in 1997, scored only three this time around. The National Front found itself without any MP. The composition of the new government was announced on 17 June 2002. Mr. Jean-Pierre Raffarin, appointed Prime Minister after Mr. Chirac's victory in the presidential elections, was reconfirmed. Mr. Jean-Louis Debré (UMP) was elected as Speaker of the National Assembly on 25 June 2002.

STATISTICS

Round no 1 (9 June 2002): Elections results
Number of registered electors	40 968 484
Voters	26 389 875 (64 %)
Blank or invalid ballot papers	1 143 830
Valid votes	25 246 045
Round no 2 (16 June 2002): Elections results
Number of registered electors	36 783 746
Voters	22 186 165 (60 %)
Blank or invalid ballot papers	965 139
Valid votes	21 221 026

Round no 1: Distribution of votes
Political Group	Votes	%
Union for the Presidential Majority (UMP)	8 408 023	33.30
Union for French Democracy (UDF)	1 226 462	4.86
Other parties of the right	921 973	3.65
Socialist Party (PS)	6 086 599	24.11
National Front (FN)	2 862 960	11.34
Communist Party (PC)	1 216 178	4.82
Greens	1 138 222	4.51
Hunting, Fishing, Nature and Tradition	422 448	1.67
Republican Pole	299 897	1.19
Republican National Movement (NMR)	276 376	1.09
Other parties of the left	275 553	1.09
Round no 2: Distribution of votes
Political Group	Votes	%
Union for the Presidential Majority (UMP)	10 029 669	47.26
Socialist Party (PS)	7 482 169	35.26
Union for French Democracy (UDF)	832 785	3.92
Communist Party (PC)	690 807	3.26
Other parties of the right	274 374	1.29
Left Radical Party (PRG)	455.360	2.15
Other parties of the left	268 715	1.27
Greens	677 933	3.19
Rally For France (RPF)	61 605	0.29
Regionalists	28 689	0.14
Various	13 036	0.06
National Front (FN)	393 205	1.85

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total
Union for the Presidential Majority (UMP)	46
Union for French Democracy (UDF)	6
Other parties of the right	4
Socialist Party (PS)	2
National Front (FN)	0
Communist Party (PC)	0
Greens	0
Hunting, Fishing, Nature and Tradition	0
Republican Pole	0
Republican National Movement (NMR)	0
Other parties of the left	0
Round no 2: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total
Union for the Presidential Majority (UMP)	309
Socialist Party (PS)	138
Union for French Democracy (UDF)	23
Communist Party (PC)	21
Other parties of the right	8
Left Radical Party (PRG)	7
Other parties of the left	6
Greens	3
Rally For France (RPF)	2
Regionalists	1
Various	1
National Front (FN)	0

Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men:	506
Women:	71
Percent of women:	12.31

Distribution of seats according to age:
21 to 30 years	1
31 to 40 years	40
41 to 50 years	129
51 to 60 years	286
61 to 70 years	106
Over 70 years	15
Distribution of seats according to profession:
Private sector	81
Civil servants	76
Medical professions	69
Teachers	50
Business/Trade/Industry	46
Legal professions	46
Engineers	26
University Professors	24
Retired	20
Liberal professions	19
Farmers	16
Political officers	9
Technicians	9
Journalists/writers/publishers	7
Public companies	7
Manual workers	4
Social workers	2
Architects	1
Others	65