List of political parties in France

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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:

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

Contents

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
Trotskyists
New Anticapitalist Party Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste NPA Olivier Besancenot minor anticapitalism
Workers' Struggle Lutte Ouvrière LO Arlette Laguiller, spokeswoman minor trotskyist
Left-wing
Socialist Party Parti Socialiste PS Martine Aubry major social democracy, socialism
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
Left Party Parti de gauche PG Jean-Luc Mélenchon minor democratic socialism, republicanism, anticapitalism
French Communist Party Parti Communiste Français PCF Marie-George Buffet significant minor, in decline since the 1980s, it now polls around 4% eurocommunism and communism, democratic socialism
Citizen and Republican Movement Mouvement républicain et citoyen MRC Jean-Pierre Chevènement minor left-wing nationalism, socialism, republicanism
Greens
The Greens Les Verts VEC 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 Center 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 (lead 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 Xavier Bertrand 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 Jean-Marie 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

Left

Greens

Center

Liberal

Others

Major regionalist parties

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

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

Lists

See also

v • d • e
Political parties in France France
Political parties represented in the
National Assembly of France (577) Seats.
Political parties represented in the
Senate of France (343) Seats.
Political parties represented in the
European Parliament (74) seats.
Political parties not represented in the
Parliament of France.
Notes:1 and 2Numbers denote party affiliations, 1 is for parties linked to the Union for a Popular Movement, 2 is for parties linked to the Democratic Movement.

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