List of political parties in France
France has a multi-party political system: one in which the number of competing political parties is sufficiently large as to make it almost inevitable that in order to participate in the exercise of power any single party must be prepared to negotiate with one or more others with a view to forming electoral alliances and/or coalition agreements.
The dominant French political parties are also characterized by a noticeable degree of intra-party factionalism, making each of them effectively a coalition in itself.
Up until recently, the government of France had alternated between two rather stable coalitions:
- on the centre-left, one led by the Socialist Party and with minor partners such as Europe Ecology – The Greens and the Radical Party of the Left.
- on the centre-right, one led by The Republicans (and previously its predecessors, the Union for a Popular Movement, Rally for the Republic) and the Union of Democrats and Independents.
This was the case until the 2017 legislative election, when Emmanuel Macron's party, La République En Marche!, won a large majority in parliament. This caused a political upset, as it was the first time in French history when one of the two main contemporary parties had not won.
Another party that has had sizable successes is the National Front (FN). Since 2014, the FN has established itself as the third sizable party, finishing in 1st place in the 2014 European elections as well as in the 2015 local elections,[1] although it still didn't manage to win any executives mostly due to the last-ditch alliance between the centre-left and the centre-right coalitions in Hauts-de-France region as well as in the South of France.[2] Now many political observers talk about the "tripartisme" (English: tripartism) of the French political landscape.[3][4][5] In the 2017 presidential election, Emmanuel Macron, under the banner of En Marche!, defeated Marine Le Pen.
Elected parties
Major nationwide represented parties
Acronym and Name | National coalition | Leader or Chairman | People's Representatives | Political Position | Ideology |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
REM: La République En Marche! | None | Christophe Castaner | Head of State: 1 / 1
National Assembly:311 / 577 Senate: 21 / 348 European Parliament: 0 / 74 Presidency of Regional Councils: 0 / 17 Presidency of Departmental Councils: 0 / 101
|
Centre | Liberalism, social liberalism, economic liberalism, pro-Europeanism, big tent |
LR: The Republicans (See also, UMP & RPR.) |
None | Laurent Wauquiez | National Assembly: 112 / 577 Senate: 142 / 348 European Parliament: 19 / 74 Presidency of Regional Councils: 7 / 17 Presidency of Departmental Councils: 44 / 101
|
Centre-right | The Strong Right: Sarkozysm, liberal conservatism, social conservatism, Christian democracy
|
PS: Socialist Party | New Left | Vacant | National Assembly: 30 / 577 Senate: 86 / 348 European Parliament: 10 / 74 Presidency of Regional Councils: 5 / 17 Presidency of Departmental Councils: 27 / 101
|
Centre-left | Mobilise the French People for a Successful Change: Social democracy, social liberalism, pro-Europeanism
|
Other nationwide represented parties
Region only parties
Acronym and Name | National coalition | Leader or Chairman | Territorial councillors | Ideology |
---|---|---|---|---|
CPNT: Hunt, Fish, Nature, Traditions | None | Frédéric Nihous | Regional: 6 / 1,880 |
Traditional rural values; refusal of environmental legislation and regulations restricting the right to hunt and fish, conservative, Eurosceptic |
MEI: Independent Ecological Movement | None | Antoine Waechter | Regional: 3 / 1,880 |
Green politics, Centrism, anti-nuclear |
NPA: New Anticapitalist Party | None | Christine Poupin | Regional: 2 / 1,880 |
Anti-capitalism, democratic socialism, eco-socialism, alter-globalization |
GU: Unitarian Left | Left Front | Christian Picquet | Regional: 7 / 1,880 |
Anti-capitalism, democratic socialism |
Non-elected parties
Acronym and Name | National coalition | Leader or Chairman | Political Position |
---|---|---|---|
PNF: French Nationalist Party | None | Jean-François Simon | Euroscepticism, nationalism, conservatism, patriotism |
AF: French Action | None | Stéphane Blanchonnet | Nationalism, monarchism, conservatism, Euroscepticism |
UPR: Popular Republican Union | None | François Asselineau | Euroscepticism, French nationalism, Anti-imperialism, Anti-americanism |
AR: Royal Alliance | None | Pierre Bernard | Monarchism, conservatism, Euroscepticism |
NAR: New Royalist Action | None | Bertrand Renouvin | Monarchism, conservatism, Euroscepticism, gaulism |
LRF: France Awakens | None | Nicolas Taupin, Sébastien Taupin | Cartesianism, rationalism, pragmatism, Enlightenment Age |
RD: Democratic Rally | None | Philippe Cartellier | Monarchism, conservatism, gaulism |
GE: Ecology Generation | None | Yves Piétrasanta | Green politics, green conservatism, centre-right |
GR: Revolutionary Left | None | Collective | Marxism, socialism, Trotskyism |
PCOF: Workers' Communist Party of France | Left Front | Collective | Communism, Marxism–Leninism, hoxhaism, anti-revisionism |
POI: Independent Workers' Party | None | Daniel Gluckstein, Claude Jenet, Jean Markun, Gérard Schivardi | Trotskyism, Marxism, communism, proletarian internationalism |
PRCF: Pole of Communist Rebirth in France | None | Léon Landini | Marxism-Leninism, communism, anti-capitalism, nationalism |
OCML-VP: Marxist–Leninist Communist Organization – Proletarian Way | None | Collective | Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, communism |
PP: Pirate Party | None | Maxime Rouquet, Guillaume Lecoquierre | Intellectual property reform, protection of privacy and individual liberty |
LO: Workers' Struggle | None | Nathalie Arthaud, spokeswoman | Trotskyism, internationalism, feminism |
PLD: Liberal Democratic Party | None | Aurélien Véron | Classical liberalism |
FA: Anarchist Federation | None | Collective | Anarchist Synthesist, anarchism without adjectives |
AL: Alternative Libertaire | None | Collective | Anarchist Communism |
PL: Libertarian Party | None | Guilhem d'Urbal | Libertarianism |
French Revolution
Historical parties
- Red Republicans
- Socialist Party of France (1902)
- French Socialist Party (1902)
- French Socialist Party (1919)
- Socialist Party of France – Jean Jaurès Union
Political parties in French overseas possessions
- 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
Historical parties
See also
References
- ^ http://www.lemonde.fr/elections-regionales-2015/article/2015/12/06/regionales-le-fn-vainqueur-du-premier-tour_4825715_4640869.html
- ^ http://www.leparisien.fr/elections-regionales/resultats-des-elections-regionales-2015-troisieme-le-ps-est-force-de-choisir-06-12-2015-5345131.php#xtref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.fr
- ^ http://www.lemonde.fr/elections-departementales-2015/article/2015/03/23/le-tripartisme-s-installe-en-france_4599141_4572524.html
- ^ http://www.latribune.fr/opinions/tribunes/le-tripartisme-et-apres-545545.html
- ^ http://www.leparisien.fr/politique/departementales-et-maintenant-le-tripartisme-28-03-2015-4645571.php