List of political parties in France

France

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of France

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France has a multi-party system, with numerous parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments. Since the 1980s, France's government has alternated between two rather stable coalitions:

• on the left, one led by the Socialist Party and with minor partners such as the French Communist Party, Europe Écologie–The Greens and the Left Radical Party.
• on the right, one led by the Union for a Popular Movement and its predecessors Rally for the Republic and the Union for French Democracy, with support from the centrist Nouveau Centre

It is difficult for parties outside those coalitions to make significant inroads, though the far-right National Front has had sizable successes.

Political parties and leaders in Metropolitan France

Nationwide parties

In the "remarks" column: "minor" indicates a party that makes less than 3% in national elections; "significant minor" indicates that the party gains more than 3% in national elections or wins a substantive number of seats (20+) in the National Assembly, but does not have a reasonable chance of leading a national government; "major" indicates a party that does have a reasonable chance of leading a national government; "one-person" indicates a party that has only one leading and commanding personality.

Name in English	Name	Acronym	Leader or Chairman	Remarks	Political Position
Far left
New Anticapitalist Party	Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste	NPA	Olivier Besancenot	minor	anticapitalism, democratic socialism
Workers' Struggle	Lutte Ouvrière	LO	Nathalie Arthaud, spokeswoman	minor	trotskyist
Unitarian Left	Gauche Unitaire	GU	Christian Picquet	minor, member of the Left Front	anti-capitalism, democratic socialism
Left Party	Parti de gauche	PG	Jean-Luc Mélenchon	minor, member of the Left Front	democratic socialism, republicanism, anticapitalism
French Communist Party	Parti Communiste Français	PCF	Pierre Laurent	significant minor, in decline since the 1980s, it now polls around 4%, member of the Left Front	eurocommunism and communism, democratic socialism
Left-wing
Radical Party of the Left	Parti radical de gauche	PRG	Jean-Michel Baylet	minor; previously Parti Radical Socialiste, Radical Socialist Party or PRS, Mouvement des Radicaux de Gauche, Left Radical Movement or MRG, Radical	left radicalism, social liberalism
Socialist Party	Parti Socialiste	PS	François Hollande	major	social democracy, socialism
Citizen and Republican Movement	Mouvement républicain et citoyen	MRC	Jean-Pierre Chevènement	minor	left-wing nationalism, socialism, republicanism
Greens
Europe Écologie–The Greens	Europe Écologie–Les Verts	EELV	Cécile Duflot	significant minor, the largest French green-ecologist party of the left	green politics, blue politics, social democracy
Centrists
Democratic Movement	Mouvement Démocrate	MoDem	François Bayrou	significant minor, former Union for French Democracy (UDF) created by Bayrou after his relative success in the 2007 presidential ballot to contest the legislative election of June 2007	centrism, social liberalism, liberalism
New Centre	Nouveau Centre	PSLE or NC	Hervé Morin	significant minor; formed by 80% of former UDF assembly members in May 2007 following the creation of the independent Democratic Movement. These assembly members wished to participate to the majority (led by Union for a Popular Movement (UMP))	liberalism, Christian democracy
Radical Party	Parti Radical	RAD	Jean-Louis Borloo	minor, associated with UMP, with some members in government Full historical name: Parti Radical Républicain et Radical Socialiste" - Radical-Republican and Radical-Socialist Party	social liberalism, liberalism
Right-wing
Union for a Popular Movement	Union pour un Mouvement Populaire	UMP	Jean-François Copé	major; As of 2007, the president (Nicolas Sarkozy), the prime minister (François Fillon) and the speakers of both houses of parliament are from UMP.	conservatism, liberal-conservatism, also libertarianism and nationalism
National Center of Independents and Peasants	Centre National des Indépendants et Paysans	CNI, CNIP	Annick du Roscoät	minor	Conservatism
Hunt, Fish, Nature, Traditions	Chasse, Pêche, Nature, Traditions	CPNT	Frédéric Nihous	minor, mostly in European and local elections	traditional rural values; refusal of environmental legislation and regulations restricting the right to hunt and fish, conservative, Eurosceptic
Movement for France	Mouvement pour la France	MPF	Philippe de Villiers	minor	strong law enforcement, conservative, anti-immigration, Eurosceptic
Far-right
National Front	Front National	FN	Marine Le Pen	significant minor, suffering a decline in recent years; personalist	strong law enforcement, anti-immigration, Eurosceptic
Former Parties of Note
Rally for the Republic	Rassemblement pour la République	RPR	Michelle Alliot-Marie	major; merged into UMP	conservatism
Liberal Democracy	Démocratie Libérale	DL	Alain Madelin	minor; originally Parti Républicain - Republican Party or PR; merged into UMP	liberal conservatism, conservative liberalism
French Section of the Workers' International	Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière	SFIO	Guy Mollet	major; disbanded after creation of the Parti Socialiste. Major party of the third and fourth republics	socialism

Minor parties

Royalists

• Royal Alliance (Alliance Royale), led by Yves-Marie Adeline
• Nouvelle Action Royaliste, led by Bertrand Renouvin, called sometimes 'royalists of the left' (Renouvin supported Mitterrand in the 1981 and 1988 elections)
• Democratic rally (Rassemblement démocrate), moderate-centrist royalists
• Action Française, which is more a movement than a party. It is one of the most ancient political movement in France, and it was taken for the most subversive political organisation of the first half of the 20th century. Many far right politicians, such as Jean-Marie Le Pen or Philippe de Villiers are inspired by the ideas of the Action Française's founder, Charles Maurras.

Left

• Workers Communist Party of France (PCOF), Marxist-Leninist
• Independent Workers' Party (Parti ouvrier indépendant or POI), (trotskyist)
• Pole of Communist Rebirth in France (Pôle de Renaissance Communiste en France), led by Léon Landini

Greens

• Ecology Generation (Génération Écologie, or GE), led by Brice Lalonde
• Independent Ecological Movement (Mouvement Écologiste Indépendant or MEI), led by Antoine Waechter
• Citizenship, Action, Participation for the 21st Century (Citoyenneté Action Participation pour le XXIe siècle, CAP21), led by Corinne Lepage

Center

• Union of Radical Republicans, which participated to the creation of François Bayrou's MoDem.

Liberal

• Liberal Democratic Party (Parti libéral démocrate)

Others

• Pirate Party (Parti Pirate)

Major regionalist parties

(with past or present representation in at least a regional council)

• Abertzaleen Batasuna (Basque Country, nationalist separatist): largest Basque nationalist party of the Northern Basque Country
• Alsace d'abord (Alsace, far-right regionalist): had 3 seats in the Alsace Regional Council in 1998
• Ligue savoisienne (Savoie, liberal separatist): had 1 seat in the Rhône-Alpes Regional Council in 1998
• Union Démocratique Bretonne (Brittany, left-wing regionalist): member of the present left-wing governing coalition in the Bretagne Regional Council with PS and the Greens. It has 4 seats, including one caucusing member.
• Party of the Corsican Nation (Corsica, nationalist autonomist): 11 seats in the Corsican Assembly and 1 in the European Parliament.
• Corsica Libera (Corsica, nationalist separatist): 4 seats in the Corsican Assembly.

Political parties in French overseas possessions

Note: Many of the parties in French oversea possessions have strong ties to counterparts in Metropolitan France.

Overseas departmental parties represented in the National Assembly

• United Guadeloupe, Socialism and Realities (Guadeloupe: Guadeloupe unie, socialisme et réalités)
• Martinican Progressive Party (Martinique: Parti Progressiste Martiniquais)
• Martinican Independence Movement (Martinique: Mouvement Indépendantiste Martiniquais)
• Walwari (French Guiana: Walwari)
• Guianese Socialist Party (French Guiana: Parti socialiste guyanais, or PSG)
• Communist Party of Réunion (Réunion: Parti communiste réunionnais, or PCR)
• Tahoera'a Huiraatira (French Polynesia, local UMP)
• Mahoré Departementalist Movement (Mayotte, Mouvement départementaliste mahorais, or MDM)

Lists

• List of political parties in French Guiana
• List of political parties in French Polynesia
• List of political parties in Guadeloupe
• List of political parties in Martinique
• List of political parties in Mayotte
• List of political parties in New Caledonia
• List of political parties in Reunion
• List of political parties in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
• List of political parties in Wallis and Futuna

See also

• Liberalism and radicalism in France
• List of political parties