www.parliament.uk/commons-library | intranet.parliament.uk/commons-library | papers@parliament.uk | @commonslibrary

BRIEFING PAPER Number , 21 June 2017

The 2017 French parliamentary elections

By John Curtis

Contents: 1. Results 2. Background 3. What’s next for France?

2 The 2017 French parliamentary elections

Contents Summary 3

1. Results 5 1.1 Political party performance 5 1.2 Turnout 6 1.3 Demography of the new Parliament 7

2. Background 8 2.1 Assembly Elections 8 2.2 Political groups 8 2.3 Party funding 9

3. What’s next for France? 10 3.1 Challenges for Macron’s government 10

Economic reforms 10 State of Emergency 10 Political renewal and ‘corruption’ scandals 11

3.2 The other parties 11 Les Républicains (LR) 11 Parti Socialiste (PS) 12 La France Insoumise (LFI) 12 Front National (FN) 12

3.3 Impact on the UK 12

Contributing Authors: Noel Dempsey, Charts and tables

Cover page image copyright: National_Assembly_of_France_-_panoramio by Jarosław Baranowski. Licensed by (CC BY-SA 3.0) / image cropped

3 Commons Library Briefing, 21 June 2017

Summary The 2017 French Parliamentary elections produced an emphatic win for President Macron’s La République En Marche (REM) party. They received 308 seats, and together with the Mouvement Démocrate (MoDEM) party which has joined them in government, they have a significant majority which should allow them to easily carry through their political programme.

Turnout, however, was low, particularly in the second round of voting. Nearly 10% of those who voted in the second round spoiled their ballots or left them blank. 75% of the Members of Parliament elected to the National Assembly are new, and a record 39% of them are women.

National Assembly elections are run using a two-round voting system. If no candidate achieves more than 50% in the first round, all candidates who achieve a certain threshold of votes (more than 12.5% of registered voters in that constituency), go through to a second round, where the candidate who gains the most votes is elected.

Political groups can be formed by parties in the Assembly who can put together more than 15 members. Being able to form such groups gives them access to extra funding, and more influence on the workings of the Assembly.

Political parties in France are largely funded by the State, and their funding is linked to their performance in the previous parliamentary elections. Large losses of votes and parliamentary seats, therefore, can have lasting impacts.

All the other major political parties must now decide how they will approach the result of the elections. Les Républicains (LR), the main centre-right party, lost a large number of seats, but remain the largest opposition party. They have seen several of their senior figures join Mr Macron’s government. They must decide whether to support Mr Macron’s government in areas where they agree, such as reforms to the economy.

The Parti Socialiste (PS), which was the largest party in the previous National Assembly, lost hundreds of seats and millions of votes. The combination of a large loss of state funding and several senior party figures losing their seats in the Assembly mean it may take them some time to recover from such a loss.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise (LFI) movement, while having enough seats to form a political group in the Assembly, are still behind the PS grouping. While this small number of seats will prevent them from making a big impact in the Assembly, the increased funding that will come from their electoral performance may help them take their message direct to the public.

The Front National (FN) increased their seats from 2 to 8, with Marine Le Pen gaining an Assembly seat for the first time. However, they

4 The 2017 French parliamentary elections

have fallen short of the 15 seats required to form a party bloc in the Assembly, and they may struggle to make a significant impact on the chamber. There is a debate over what direction the party should take in the future, particularly its approach to France’s membership of the Euro and EU.

Despite President Macron’s government’s significant majority, it faces challenges to enact its political programme. Economic reforms have proved difficult for previous administrations to pass, and parts of the reform package such as labour reforms are unpopular with the public. The resignation of three Cabinet Ministers following allegations of impropriety will put a renewed focus on Mr Macron’s promises to ‘clean up’ politics in the country. Mr Macron’s proposal to keep a State of Emergency in place and to adopt some of these powers into legislation, making them permanent, has also caused controversy, particularly among human rights groups.

A recent bi-lateral meeting between President Macron and Prime Minister Theresa May suggests that despite the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, the countries will still cooperate on areas of shared interest, such as the challenge of removing extremist content from the internet.

5 Commons Library Briefing, 21 June 2017

1. Results 1.1 Political party performance

President Macron’s La République En Marche (REM) party were the clear winners of the election, gaining 308 seats, and 43% of the votes in the second round. They needed only 289 seats for a parliamentary majority. Together with the 42 seats of the Mouvement Démocrate (MoDEM) party who will form part of their government, they will have a majority of over 200 seats. This is a remarkable performance from a party that was only formed in April 2016, and had never before put up a nation-wide slate of candidates.

MoDEM, led by veteran centrist politician François Bayrou, who formed an electoral pact1 with REM, improved significantly on their 2012 performance where they gained only 2 seats and less than 1% of the vote.

Les Républicains (LR), lost 82 seats but remain the largest opposition party. They saw several of their senior politicians defect to Macron’s REM, and are currently without a permanent leader.

1 French centrist strikes deal with Macron on parliamentary candidates’, Politico, 13

May 2017

French National Assembly Elections: seats won by party

Number % Number %

Centre La République En Marche! REM - - 308 53.4%Centre Democratic Movement MoDem 2 0.4% 42 7.3%Right The Republicans LR 194 34.1% 113 19.6%Right Union of Democrats and Independents UDI - - 18 3.1%Left Socialist Party PS 280 49.2% 29 5.0%Left Radical Party of the Left PRG 12 2.1% 3 0.5%

National Front FN 2 0.4% 8 1.4%Othersa Others 87 15.3% 56 9.7%

Total 577 101% 577 100%

Note: a. Includes deputies who may be be part of wider parliamentary group; - indicates party didn’t stand/existSource: French Government, Ministry of Interior, accessed 19 June 2017

Group Party

2012 2017Party Abbrev.

6 The 2017 French parliamentary elections

The Parti Socialiste (PS) followed their very poor Presidential election result2, where their candidate achieved only 5 percent of the vote, with a similarly disappointing performance, winning only 29 seats, a loss of 251 from 2012. The party’s leader, Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, announced he would stand down as the results of the second round came in, having already lost his own seat in the first round.3

The Front Nationale (FN) gained 8 seats, up from 2 in the 2012 election, which included a seat for Marine Le Pen, the party’s candidate in the Presidential election. This result falls short of the 15 seats required to form a political group in the Assembly (see Section 2 for the advantages this brings).

La France Insoumise (LFI), the radical left grouping led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, gained 17 seats, enough to form a political group in the Assembly, with around 3% of the vote.

1.2 Turnout Turnout (calculated as valid votes as a proportion of the electorate) was at a historic low, with less than 48% of the electorate turning out in the first round, compared to 56% percent in 2012.

The abstention rate of over 60% in the second round was the highest since the founding of the Fifth Republic in 1958. Turnout was nearly 10 percentage points down on the first round, while in 2012 there was a drop of only 3 percentage points. Almost 10% of those who did vote left their ballots blank or spoiled.

Whether the low turnout is due to voter fatigue, as some have claimed, or the perceived inevitability of a Macron win as indicated by the polls going into the elections, isn’t yet clear.

2 See ‘The French Presidential Election 2017 (second round)’, Commons Library

Briefing Paper 7962, 2 May 2017, for a full analysis of the results 3 Macron marches on as his party wins large majority in French parliament’, The

Guardian, 19 June 2017

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

La République En Marche!

Democratic Movement

The Republicans

Union of Democrats and Independents

Socialist Party

Radical Party of the Left

National Front

National Assembly Elections: 2nd round vote share

20122017

47.6%38.4%

0%

20%

40%

60%

Round 1 Round 2

2017

56.3% 53.3%

0%

20%

40%

60%

Round 1 Round 2

2012

Turnout at National Assembly Elections

7 Commons Library Briefing, 21 June 2017

1.3 Demography of the new Parliament The demographic make-up of the new Assembly has seen significant changes, in large part due to the more diverse candidates put forward by Macron’s REM party.

Three-quarters of the Assembly are new members and a record 223 of the 577 MPs are women4 - around 39%, compared to 32% in the House of Commons.5

There are now 39 members under 30 with the average age of members having dropped more than six years since 2012, decreasing from 54 to 48 years of age.6

4 French election: Macron team complete rout with Assembly win’, BBC News, 19

June 2017. 5 Election 2017: Record number of female MPs’, BBC News, 10 June 2017 6 Wave of young lawmakers elected in France, even as contemporaries shun vote’,

France 24, 20 June 2017.

8 The 2017 French parliamentary elections

2. Background 2.1 Assembly Elections The National Assembly is made up of 577 Members of Parliament (députés), who stand in single member constituencies. They are elected for five-year terms, though the Assembly can be dissolved before this time by the President, triggering early elections.

As with Presidential elections, France uses a second ballot system to elect its members of parliament. Any candidate who gains a majority of the votes cast (i.e. over 50%), while also gaining at least 25% of the vote of registered electors in the constituency, wins that seat outright. In 2017, only 4 candidates won their constituencies in the first round, a relatively low number compared to recent elections. This may well be due to the relatively low turnout in these elections. In 2012, 36 candidates were elected in the first round, 110 in 2007 and 58 in 2002.7 If no candidate achieves a majority of votes, then any candidate who has gained the votes of more than 12.5% of registered voters proceeds to the next round. Whoever wins the most votes of the candidates through to the second round is elected. The first and second rounds of voting are held a week apart.

2.2 Political groups MPs in the Assembly are arranged in formal political groups.8 Although these largely reflect the political parties, they exist under separate rules of procedure. MPs, therefore, can arrange themselves in whatever political groupings they wish, though in practice they largely sit as per their party representation. To create a political group, two conditions must be met: firstly, there must be a minimum number of 15 MPs, and secondly, the group must put forward a political statement signed by its members. An MP can only be a member of one political group.

There are several advantages to being able to form a party group:

• The National Assembly provides the groups with a financial contribution to run their affairs, based on the size of their membership.

• Political groups will be represented in the Bureau of the National Assembly, which administers the institution, sets the internal rules of procedure and the agenda for what is debated in plenary sessions.

• Chairmanships of the Assembly’s standing committees - their equivalent of select committees - are proportioned according to how many members the different political groups have.

7 Statistics sourced from http://electionresources.org/fr/ Accessed 20/06/2017 8 More details on the functioning of political groups can be found on pages 147-160

‘National Assembly in the French Institutions’, Assemblée Nationale, November 2014

9 Commons Library Briefing, 21 June 2017

• Political groups have a right, outside of election campaigns, to ‘air time’ on public radio and television channels.

2.3 Party funding Political parties in France receive the majority of their funding from the state. Since 1995 companies have been prohibited from making political donations,9 and donations from individuals are capped at €7500.10 Funding from party membership has always been relatively modest.11

An interesting feature of the state funding of parties in France is that funding has been in part linked to the percentage of female candidates a party puts forward for election. This means that parties such as LR, which has a relatively poor track record of adopting female candidates in elections, has missed out on millions of Euros in funding.12

Party funding is allocated in two tranches. The first allocation (50%) is based on the results at the first round of the previous general elections. Parties must put up candidates in at least 50 constituencies or in at least one department or overseas community, and who obtained at least 1% of the votes cast. This is the tranche that is reduced if there is no gender parity in the selection of candidates. The second tranche (50%) goes to the parties represented in Parliament according to their number of MPs, but only goes to those parties who are eligible for the first tranche.13

Individual candidates standing in parliamentary elections are also able to claim back a proportion of their electoral expenses. Those who achieve at least 5% of the ballots cast in the first round are reimbursed, and this can reach up to nearly half of the expenditure limits set by the State.

9 Page 102 ‘National Assembly in the French Institutions’, Assemblée Nationale,

November 2014 10 Page 103 ‘National Assembly in the French Institutions’, Assemblée Nationale,

November 2014 11 Page 101 ‘National Assembly in the French Institutions’, Assemblée Nationale,

November 2014 12 ‘Parity on the march in France as Macron makes his mark in legislative opener’,

France 24, 12 June 2017 13 Pages 104-5 ‘National Assembly in the French Institutions’, Assemblée Nationale,

November 2014

10 The 2017 French parliamentary elections

3. What’s next for France? 3.1 Challenges for Macron’s government Economic reforms President Macron has promised to enact swift economic reforms. The first initiative will be to liberalise the labour code; he has already announced his intention to pass this by decree.14 France’s unions have voiced their opposition to the reform and the use of decree powers to enact it. Philippe Martinez, head of the CGT union, has warned against governing “without the people”; and Jean-Claude Mailly, head of the FO union, said “there will be a problem” if Mr Macron governs by decree.15

While it is clear Mr Macron has a strong mandate from both elections, the popularity of this specific reform is limited. One opinion poll in May 2017 showed only 49% of those asked supported the proposal.16

Former President Hollande’s attempts to reform regulations on businesses, which were drawn up by Mr Macron in his role as Economy Minister, were similarly pushed through by decree,17 and have been credited by some as being part of the reason his popularity slipped so low that he decided not to run for re-election.18

Mr Macron has committed himself to other significant economic reforms, including opening up the employment benefit system to all categories of worker, while also restricting access to and tightening up the rules for claiming the benefit. He also wants to reduce social charges19on the cost of labour, and pay for it by increasing income taxes, particularly on the richest pensioners. These measures are likely to prove similarly controversial.20

State of Emergency In May 2017 after the Manchester terrorist bombing, President Macron announced he had asked his government to prepare legislation to extend the state of emergency, which is due to expire on July 15, for another six months. Should it pass through the Assembly, this would be the sixth such extension since it was originally introduced in November 2015 following terrorist attacks on Paris.21

14 Macron’s reform drive hinges on solid parliamentary majority’, Financial Times, 8

May 2017 15 French unions move quickly to resist Macron’s labour reforms’, Financial Times, 9

May 2017. 16 Ibid 17 Hollande uses 'bazooka' decree to silence his rowdy band of Socialists’, The

Guardian, 19 February 2015 18 François Hollande will not seek re-election as president of France’, The Guardian,

1 December 2016 and ‘François Hollande will not seek second term’, Financial Times, 1 December 2016

19 These are a collection of several taxes on income. 20 What Macron wants (and how to judge if he’s succeeding)’ Politico, 20 June 2017 21 France’s Macron seeks to extend state of emergency to November’, France 24,

24 May 2017

Decrees The Prime Minister can pass finance bills or social security financing bills ‘by decree.’ The bill then becomes a vote of confidence before the National Assembly, and is considered passed unless the assembly members can pass a motion of no-confidence within 24 hours. It takes 10% of members to table such a motion and a majority to pass it. A vote of no confidence is likely then to launch fresh legislative elections. The Prime Minister can also use this method to pass one non-financial bill a year. This rarely used method was the one used by President Hollande in 2015 to pass a package of economic reforms.

11 Commons Library Briefing, 21 June 2017

The powers include the right to set curfews and limit the movement of people, and prohibit mass gatherings. Judicial oversight of the security services and police is relaxed, and the police can conduct house searches at any time and enforce house arrest.22

Human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have criticised these extensions and have asked for the State of Emergency to be lifted.23 An opinion poll in August 2016 showed 76% of those polled at the time supported the State of Emergency being maintained.24

President Macron’s government has announced plans to make some of these powers permanent by incorporating them into legislation. This has led to renewed criticism from human rights organisations.25

Political renewal and ‘corruption’ scandals President Macron prioritised ‘cleaning up’ politics during his campaign, and has vowed to introduce a bill that will ban politicians from employing family members and oblige them to declare their personal interests. 26

However, three of his Cabinet Ministers have resigned in the few days since the Parliamentary second round elections, after being linked to possible financial improprieties. Edouard Ferrand, Minister for Territorial Cohesion, left following allegations of nepotism in financial dealings. He is now leading Macron’s MPs in the National Assembly.27

Sylvie Goulard the Defence Minister, a member of REM’s coalition partner the MoDEM party, and François Bayrou, the MoDEM leader, have both resigned after it was revealed they were subject to a preliminary investigation by a magistrate into whether MEPs from that party used their assistants to carry out domestic political duties.28

3.2 The other parties Les Républicains (LR) LR are the largest party after REM, but they lost a large number of seats. President Macron’s proposed economic reforms broadly align 22 For a more detailed explanation of these powers see ‘The French Presidential

election 2017 (second round)’, House of Commons Library, 2 May 2017 23 Powers’ Human Rights Watch, December 15 2016 and ‘French human rights 'at

tipping point' as state of emergency continues, says Amnesty International’, The Independent, 23 February 2017

24 SONDAGE EXCLUSIF - Les Français ne croient plus à l'état d'urgence après les attentats de Nice et Saint-Etienne du Rouvray [YOUGOV]’, Huffington Post France, 4 August 2016- updated 5 October 2016.

25 France's Macron ‘to end state of emergency’, but keep its anti-terror powers’, France 24, 9 June 2017

26 French defence minister resigns over inquiry into misuse of funds,’ The Guardian, 20 June 2017

27 Emmanuel Macron plans cabinet reshuffle after parliamentary win’, The Guardian, 19 June 2017, and ‘French prosecutor to probe Minister Richard Ferrand over nepotism’, Politico, 6 January 2017

28 ‘French Defense Minister Sylvie Goulard asks to step down amid probe’, Politico, 20/06/2017

12 The 2017 French parliamentary elections

with the Republicans’ political viewpoint. Macron’s appointment of key figures from the party to his government, such as Prime Minister Édouard Philippe and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, in part demonstrate this agreement. The party must now decide where on the spectrum of co-existence and resistance it wishes to lie. The government will face a vote of confidence in the National Assembly following the presentation of its programme, currently scheduled for 8 July. This should provide an early indication of the approach the party and its Assembly members will take. Some analysts have suggested differing approaches within the party could lead to splits.29

Parti Socialiste (PS) PS lost support to their right to the REM, and to their left to the LFI, culminating in a huge loss of seats and votes. Their electoral performance means they will lose a significant amount of state funding, which, combined with the loss of several key leaders in the election, mean they are likely to struggle to come back from such a defeat quickly.

La France Insoumise (LFI) Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s LFI movement, while having enough seats to form a political group in the Assembly, and with their Communist Party allies forming a bloc of 27 seats, are still behind the PS grouping. While this small number of seats will prevent them from making a big impact in the Assembly, the increased funding that will come from their electoral performance may help them take their message direct to the public.

Front National (FN) The FN increased their number of seats from 2 to 8, with Marine Le Pen gaining an Assembly seat for the first time. However, they have fallen short of the 15 seats required to form a party bloc in the Assembly, and they may struggle to make a significant impact on the chamber. There is a debate over what direction the party should take in the future, particularly its approach to France’s membership of the Euro and EU, with the FN’s opposition to these blamed in part for Ms Le Pen’s loss in the Presidential election.30

3.3 Impact on the UK Theresa May and President Macron held a bilateral meeting on 13 June in Paris. The focus was counter-terrorism, and included an announcement on the two governments working together on an initiative “to develop shared technical and policy solutions to tackle terrorist content on the internet”.31 They also committed to explore “creating a legal liability for tech companies if they fail to take the necessary action to remove unacceptable content”.

29 ‘France in flux’, European Council on Foreign Relations, 20 June 2017. 30 ‘France in flux’, European Council on Foreign Relations, 20 June 2017. 31 ‘PM press conference with President of France Emmanuel Macron: 13 June

2017’, Prime Minister’s Office, 13 June 2017.

13 Commons Library Briefing, 21 June 2017

Asked by a journalist to comment on remarks by the German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble that the ‘door remained open’ to the UK, should it change its mind on Brexit32, President Macron responded:

Evidently the door remains open until negotiations come to an end. That said, a sovereign decision has been taken to leave by the British people and I respect the sovereignty of all people […] It is not for me to say whether or not this decision should be called into question. But from the perspective of EU member states, as long as the decision on the organisation of the exit is not finalised, there is always the possibility of reopening the door. But we must be clear […] once underway, we need to all be aware that it is difficult to reverse.

Mr Macron has not elaborated further on comments he made in April 2017, that he wished to renegotiate the Le Touquet treaty, particularly in respect to the treatment of minors.33 The Le Touquet Treaty is an agreement between France and the UK that came into force in 2004. It effectively allows the UK to extend its border controls into France at the border ports, helping to deal with the large number of migrants who have been attempting to enter the UK.

32 Schaeuble Says U.K. Welcome Back If Brexit Was Overturned’, Bloomberg, 13

June 2017 33 Macron vows to renegotiate Calais treaty with Britain’, The Times, April 28 2017

BRIEFING PAPER Number 21 June 2017

About the Library The House of Commons Library research service provides MPs and their staff with the impartial briefing and evidence base they need to do their work in scrutinising Government, proposing legislation, and supporting constituents.

As well as providing MPs with a confidential service we publish open briefing papers, which are available on the Parliament website.

Every effort is made to ensure that the information contained in these publicly available research briefings is correct at the time of publication. Readers should be aware however that briefings are not necessarily updated or otherwise amended to reflect subsequent changes.

If you have any comments on our briefings please email papers@parliament.uk. Authors are available to discuss the content of this briefing only with Members and their staff.

If you have any general questions about the work of the House of Commons you can email hcenquiries@parliament.uk.

Disclaimer This information is provided to Members of Parliament in support of their parliamentary duties. It is a general briefing only and should not be relied on as a substitute for specific advice. The House of Commons or the author(s) shall not be liable for any errors or omissions, or for any loss or damage of any kind arising from its use, and may remove, vary or amend any information at any time without prior notice.

The House of Commons accepts no responsibility for any references or links to, or the content of, information maintained by third parties. This information is provided subject to the conditions of the Open Parliament Licence.