The French elections of 2017: shaking the disease?

Abstract

The results of the 2017 presidential and legislative elections represent an important shift in French politics. For the first time in the history of the 5th French Republic, the candidates of the two traditional governing parties were disqualified during the first round of the presidential elections. The duel between a centrist and a radical-right candidate in the second round of the elections constitutes an unprecedented configuration. Moreover, there was a record parliamentary renewal after the 2017 legislative elections, as well as a feminisation of the National Assembly with 38.8 per cent of women among the deputies. At the same time, abstention for the legislative elections reached a new record high. Overall, the results of the French elections in 2017 could point to major shifts in the party system, as well as to a renewal of the French political elite, and to an enduring malaise between French citizens and their political representatives.

Keywords:

• France
• presidential election
• legislative election
• presidential election campaign
• party system

Notes

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Florence Ecormier-Nocca, Myrtille Picaud, and Vincent Tiberj for their valuable feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Other recent reports in the elections in context series include van Holsteyn (2018) and Prosser (2018).

2 IPSOS (2017). Sociologie des Electorats et Profil des Abstentionnistes. https://www.ipsos.com/fr-fr/2nd-tour-presidentielle-2017-sociologie-des-electorats-et-profil-des-abstentionnistes (accessed 28 February 2019).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anja Durovic

Anja Durovic studied Political Science at the University of Mannheim and at Sciences Po, where she is currently a PhD candidate in Political Science (CEE/LIEPP). Her main research interests lie in the areas of comparative politics, political behaviour, gender and politics, and political representation. Her dissertation investigates the impact of cohort change and contrasting institutional settings on the structure and development of gender inequalities in political participation across Western Europe. [[email protected]]