 France- unitary state ◦ Elections held with considerable frequency at every territorial level ◦ Communes ◦ First European country to enfranchise a mass electorate ◦ Women age 21 and older granted the vote in 1944 ◦ Voting age lowered to 18 in 1974

Presidential Elections by Direct Popular Suffrage is the most important expression of the General Will in France

 Right and left  Electoral system of the Fifth Republic favors simplification of political alignments  French party organizations skeletal ◦ Fragmentary ◦ Modest linkage between national and local ◦ Party membership low  Party system became more competitive in 1980s  Main political parties dominate the organization of parliamentary work and the selection of candidates ◦ Less important as mass membership organizations

 Socialists nominate Lionel Jospin  RPF nominates Jacques Chirac (Mayor of Paris)  The second round ◦ Chirac 53% ◦ Jospin 47%  First Round ◦ Chirac 20% ◦ Le Pen edges out Jospin (16.2%) ◦ Socialists shocked, demoralized  Second Round ◦ Chirac 82% ◦ Le Pen 18%

 Historically levels of participation high  Fifth Republic: lower ◦ Abstention seldom reached 33% in parliamentary elections ◦ Elections for European parliament abstention rises to almost 50%  Elected every five years (577 members)

First RoundSecond Round ◦ Similar to primary elections in US ◦ Absolute majority for election ◦ One week after first round ◦ Dropped if didn’t receive 12.5% of registered voters on first ◦ Plurality wins ◦ Many “deals” between first and second rounds

 Two large camps ◦ Left of center to far left ◦ Right of center to far right  Most political parties emerged from groups that began inside of the legislature ◦ Mandate of “career, conscience, and constituency ◦ Slow and irregular industrialization hampered strong working-class party  Multiparty tradition

Rally for the Republic (RPF) Charles De Gaulle ◦ Conservative, rightist, older and wealthier voters ◦ Lineal descendant of Gaullist party  Thrown together in 1958  Georges Pompidou – organizer  For 16 years held both presidency and premiership  Held majority in National assembly after the massive demonstrations of 1968

◦ Jacques Chirac’s presidential bid ends in defeat by Mitterand ◦ 1995 – President Chirac squeks in: Alain Juppé Prime Minister (RPF) ◦ 1997 election defeat of RPF/Juppé replaced by Leonel Jospin (Socialist) ◦ 2002 victory - and naming of Jean-Pierre Raffarin ◦ 2005 (May) – Chirac names Dominique Villepin as Prime Minister

 Union for French Democracy ◦ Valery Giscard d’Estaing and the Republicans ◦ Centerist alliance of 1978 creates UDN (Union for French Democracy) ◦ UDF becomes third party on right after the election of national assembly elections of 1997 and the regional elections of 1998

 Jean-Marie Le Pen – visible and vocal  Far right, support from working class  Young  Issues of law and order – and immigration  Split in 1998

Socialists: Party of Government in 1980’s Return to power in 2012 Francois Mitterrand ◦ Stronger in local elections than in central elections ◦ Party of Francois Mitterrand (after 1968) ◦ Emphasis on Culture and public goods Greater concern with social justice than with orthodox Marxist ideology

 Growing sense in 1990’s that Socialist Party leadership had “worn out” or lost touch ◦ Socialist voters abandoned the government in the Maastrich referendum of 1992 ◦ Massive loss of parliamentary seats in 1993  Unexpected recovery in 1997  2002 – again a massive loss of seats in the National Assembly

 Socialist Party ◦ Alliance with working class – weak ◦ Middle class favor ◦ Support  Industrial north  Wine growers of south  Civil servants  Teachers  Fixed income individuals

Communist Party of France French Communist Party Headquarters – Paris ◦ Major force until 1970’s ◦ Closely aligned with the Soviet Communist Party ◦ Swift electoral decline ◦ Georges Marchais replaced by Robert Hue

 From National party to local prominence ◦ , national youth delegate for the RPR. ◦ 1979 – 1981,p resident of the national youth delegates under Jacques Chirac (presidential election of 1981) ◦ 1983 – becomes mayor in the town of Neuilly-sur-Seine.

 Upward in the National Party ◦ 1988, national secretary of the RPR, in charge of youth and teaching issues. ◦ Since 1993, member of the RPR political office. ◦ , Minster for the budget in the cabinet of Prime Minister Edouard Balladur. ◦ , spokesman for the RPR ◦ , Secretary General of the RPR

1 Full employment by a policy of encouragement and incentive to work for all. 2 Higher wages by increasing working time on a voluntary base and a policy of competitiveness of our companies. 3 Reduction of the social contributions to the professional associations. 4 Increase the skill of workforce  make education more available  vocational training

1 Equal opportunity to education 2 Evaluation of teachers based on what students have learned. 3 To give autonomy to the school establishments 4 Allow the parents to choose and remove school establishment. 5 To allow all the parents to choose sports and cultural activities in place of specified mandatory activities.

1 Adapt annual flows of immigration to the needs and the capacities of reception of France., 2 Eliminate concern with country of origin 3 Preferences to stable families 4 To attract the best students according to the needs for our economy and those of the countries of origin. 5 To develop the use of biometric technologies to insure integrity of the official documents.

1 Increase and protect the budget devoted to the Ministry for the Culture 2 Emphasize acquisition of works, rather than on the administrative expenditures. 3 Put artistic education at the school in the middle of the step of cultural democratization. 4 Allow artistic young people more access to the large schools and in the university courses. 5 Regulate role of patrons and foundations

 Difficulties associated with being a female candidate (attacks from within her own party)  First female candidate for president

 Anti-abortion  Forced military service  Reinstatement of the death penalty  Opposes immigration, particularly of Muslims  Repeats proposal to “send back” 3 million non-Europeans to their homeland

The 2005 riots made immigration and immigrants from North Africa a key issue in the 2007 French presidential election.

 Le Pen: longtime proponent of addressing immigration and reinstating law and order, has become more popular and relevant as a result of the riots.  Villipin : as Prime Minister implemented tougher restrictions on immigration immediately after the riots.  Sarkozy: referred to the young people living in housing projects “scum.”  President Chirac: perceived mishandling of early riots and the socio-economic factors leading to more rioting that damaged the candidates most associated with him (especially Dominique de Villipan)

 Nicolas Sarkozy Union for a Popular Movement (Union pour un mouvement populaire) 11,448, % Nicolas SarkozyUnion for a Popular Movement  Ségolène Royal Socialist Party (Parti socialiste) 9,500, %Ségolène RoyalSocialist Party  François Bayrou Union for French Democracy (Union pour la démocratie française) 6,820, % François BayrouUnion for French Democracy  Jean-Marie Le Pen National Front (Front national) 3,834, % Jean-Marie Le PenNational Front Results- Round 1 (Major Candidates)

 Olivier Besancenot Revolutionary Communist League (Ligue communiste révolutionnaire) 1,498, % Olivier BesancenotRevolutionary Communist League  Philippe de Villiers Movement for France (Mouvement pour la France) 818, % Philippe de VilliersMovement for France  Marie-George Buffet Popular and anti-liberal Left, supported by the French Communist Party (gauche populaire et antilibérale, soutenue par le Parti communiste français) 707, % Marie-George BuffetFrench Communist Party  Dominique Voynet The Greens (Les Verts) 576, % Dominique VoynetThe Greens Results - Round 1 (Minor Candidates)

 Nicolas Sarkozy Union for a Popular Movement (Union pour un mouvement populaire) Nicolas SarkozyUnion for a Popular Movement 18,983, %  Ségolène Royal Socialist Party (Parti socialiste) Ségolène RoyalSocialist Party 16,790, %

Hollande %Aubry 43.15%  Favors European Constitution  Advisor to Mitterrand  Author of heath care legislation  From industrial north

LeftRight  Socialists  Sarkoxie – ran for reelection

 Marine Le Pen Marine Le Pen  National Front (Front national) National Front  FN  6,421,426  17.90%  Jean-Luc Mélenchon Jean-Luc Mélenchon  Left Front (Front de gauche) Left Front  FG  3,984,822  11.10%  François Bayrou François Bayrou  Democratic Movement (Mouvement démocrate) Democratic Movement  MoDem  3,275,122  9.13%  Europe Écologie–The Greens (Europe Écologie–Les Verts) Europe Écologie–The Greens  828,345 (2.31%)  Others (2.9% ) Others (2.9% )

 François Hollande François Hollande  Socialist Party (Parti socialiste) Socialist Party  PS  10,272,705  28.63%  18,000,668  51.64%  Nicolas Sarcoxie Nicolas Sarcoxie  Union for a Popular Movement (Union pour un mouvement populaire) Union for a Popular Movement  UMP  9,753,629  27.18%  16,860,685  48.36%