Legislative elections were held in France on 10 and 17 June 2012 (and on other dates for small numbers of voters outside metropolitan France) to select the members of the 14th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic, a little over a month after the presidential election run-off held on 6 May.

All 577 single member seats in the assembly, including those representing overseas departments and territories and French residents overseas, were contested using a two-round system.

Background Presidential election The elections came a month after the presidential election won by François Hollande of the Socialist Party. Since 2002, legislative elections immediately follow the presidential ones. This was designed to limit the possibility of a cohabitation, whereby the President and their Prime Minister, backed by a parliamentary majority, would be of opposite parties. The aim was also to give the new president and their government a "double mandate", the election of the President being followed by that of a parliamentary majority enabling him to implement his policies.Jean-Claude Zarka, Le Président de la Ve République, Ellipses Marketing, 2007, (), p. 10"Tout bien réfléchi, c'est oui", L'Express, 21 September 2000 This is what happened in 2002 and 2007. Thus, in 2012, the Socialist Party has asked French citizens to "confirm" the result of the presidential election; Hollande's campaign director Pierre Moscovici argued it would not make sense to have elected a President only for him to be rendered "powerless" by the legislative election: "This President tomorrow must have a majority with which to govern". By contrast, the Union for a Popular Movement, on the right, has repeatedly asked that the left not be given "all the powers" through this election."Gauche et droite fourbissent déjà leurs armes pour les législatives", La Dépêche, 6 May 2012"Législatives : le PS veut "une majorité nette", l'UMP veut limiter la casse", Le Monde, 8 May 2012"Legislatives : un enjeu décisif", Le Petit Bleu, 29 May 2012 The legislative elections in France are often described as the "third round" of the presidential election."Un " troisième tour " déterminant", Ouest France, 30 May 2012"Législatives. Le "troisième tour" en vue", Le Télégramme, 8 May 2012"La bataille des législatives est lancée en France" , Le Matin, 21 May 2012

Ethnic and gender pluralism In order to make possible the election of some candidates of non-European ethnic background (North African, Subsaharan African and West Indian) as well as for female candidates, the Socialist Party had, like in 2007, reserved several constituencies for them, 22 for ethnic minorities and 49% for women.Karine Perret, "Le délicat dossier des investitures aux législatives examiné par le PS", Agence France-Presse, 20 November 2011Lionel Laparade, "Législatives : la "diversité" diversement appréciée", La Dépêche du Midi, 29 November 2011Sylvia Zappi, Législatives : la "diversité" progresse peu au PS, Le Monde, 30 November 2011

At the end of the second round, there were 13 metropolitan deputies with non-European ethnic background, including two government members (Kader Arif, former MEP, and George Pau-Langevin, already deputy since 2007) who will be replaced by their alternate candidates: 6 with Algerian roots: Kader Arif (PS), Kheira Bouziane (PS), Pascal Cherki (PS), Jean-François Copé (UMP), Razzy Hammadi (PS), Chaynesse Khirouni (PS) 2 with Lebanese roots: Christian Assaf (PS), Henri Jibrayel (PS) 2 with Guadeloupean roots: Hélène Geoffroy (PS), George Pau-Langevin (PS) 1 with Tunisian roots: Pierre Lellouche (UMP) (and Razzy Hammadi, whose mother is a Tunisian) 1 with Chadian roots: Seybah Dagoma (PS) 1 with Brazilian roots: Eduardo Rihan Cypel (PS)

Among the 11 deputies who represent French citizens abroad, one is from Réunion, Corinne Narassiguin (PS), another has Chilean roots, Sergio Coronado (EELV) and a third one has Iranian roots, Pouria Amirshahi (PS).

Electoral system A total of 6,603 candidates ran for the 577 seats, an average of 11 per constituency. Some 40% are women. The law mandates that every party must have between 49 and 51% of women among its candidates, or have their public funding significantly reduced. "Some parties, among the richest, prefer to pay the fine" rather than comply with this rule, according to Libération."6 591 candidatures déposées pour les législatives ", Libération, 19 May 2012 The law also does not take electability into account, and significant numbers of women candidates run in constituencies where their party does not stand a real chance.

French expatriates elected their own MPs for the first time – voting early, from 23 to 26 May or on 2 or 3 June for the first round and from 6 to 12 June or on 16 or 17 June for the second, depending on their location and the method by which they cast their ballot. If an expatriate votes via the Internet, he or she has a week to do so from 23 to 26 May. A postal ballot may be cast, if received by 31 May in the Americas or by 1 June in the rest of the world. Those who prefer to vote in person in their local consulate must do so on 2 June in the Americas or 3 June in the rest of the world.Elections législatives. Dates et modalités , French Ministry of Foreign AffairsAlexandre Léchenet and Maxime Le Roux, "Les Français de l'étranger peuvent voter par Internet", Le Monde, 23 May 2012

The two-round system Each of the 577 constituencies elects one representative to the National Assembly, in a two-round election. A candidate is elected in the first round if he or she obtains an absolute majority of the vote in his or her constituency and the votes of at least one quarter of all registered voters in the constituency. If a large number of voters abstain, an absolute majority of the vote may thus not be enough, although this rarely happens. (In the 2012 election, one surprising example was in Martinique's 3rd constituency, where incumbent MP Serge Letchimy of the Martinican Progressive Party received 63.29% of the vote, but narrowly failed to be immediately elected due to a very low turnout (30.67%)."Résultats du 1er tour – 10 juin 2012 dans la 3ème circonscription de la Martinique", Le Monde) If no candidate is elected in the first round, then the two candidates who finished first and second in the first round advance automatically to the second for a runoff. They may be joined by the third- or even fourth-placed candidate; the second round is open to any candidate who has obtained the votes of at least 12.5% of registered voters in the constituency. Low turnouts therefore decrease the likelihood of a three-person runoff (known in France as a triangulaire). In the second round, the candidate who obtains the most votes is elected; an absolute majority is not required. (In the unlikely event of a tie, the elder of the tied candidates is elected.)"Les modalités d'élection en France" , French Ministry of the Interior

Candidates who advance to the second round have the option of withdrawing. Usually this happens in a triangulaire, where the party and/or candidate that finished third in the first round prefers to favour one of the two leading candidates. In the 2012 election, for example, third-placed UMP candidate Roland Chassain in the Bouches-du-Rhône's 16th constituency withdrew in order to help the National Front candidate defeat the Socialist candidate. In addition, the parties of the mainstream left (Socialist, Greens, Left Front, Radical Party of the Left, various smaller parties) have a long-standing agreement whereby they do not stand against one another in the second round. If two of them advance to the second round in the same constituency, the less-well-placed of the two automatically withdraws. In some cases, this means a triangulaire is avoided, and the left is united against a single right-wing candidate. In the 2012 election, for example, in the Hauts-de-Seine's 11th constituency, incumbent MP and Left Front candidate Marie-Hélène Amiable narrowly finished second (29.20%) behind Socialist candidate Julie Sommaruga (29.93%). Amiable withdrew, supporting Sommaruga in her runoff against New Centre candidate Jean-Loup Metton, who had finished third in the first round with enough support to advance to the second (24.15%). In other cases, this rule means that only one candidate remains in the "second round". Thus, Socialist Najia Amzal withdrew in favour of Left Front candidate and incumbent MP Marie-George Buffet in Seine-Saint-Denis's 4th constituency; Left Front candidate Patrick Le Hyaric withdrew in favour of Socialist candidate Élisabeth Guigou in Seine-Saint-Denis's 6th constituency; Left Front candidate and incumbent MP Pierre Gosnat withdrew in favour of Citizen and Republican Movement candidate Jean-Luc Laurent in the Val-de-Marne's 10th constituency; and Green candidate Stéphane Gatignon withdrew in front of the Left Front's incumbent MP François Asensi in Seine-Saint-Denis's 4th constituency. In all these cases, no candidate of the right, centre or far right had reached the second round, meaning that the best-placed and sole remaining left-wing candidate was guaranteed to be elected in a one-person "runoff"."Législatives: accords de désistement PS-Front de gauche-Verts en Ile-de-france", L'Humanité, 11 June 2012

Redistricting

The Constitutional Council approved in 2010 the first redistricting of electoral boundaries since 1986 to reflect France's changing demographics. The population ratio between the most populated and least populated constituencies was reduced from 1:3.6 to 1:2. A study by Regards Citoyens indicated that the number of seats increased in areas held by the centre-right coalition led by then governing UMP at the expense of the Socialist-led opposition coalition.

Officially, the dual purpose of the redistricting was to ensure a more equal number of voters per constituency, but also to provide seats in the National Assembly to French citizens resident overseas. Thirty-three constituencies were abolished, and thirty-three new ones created. Of the latter, nineteen were in France, while the rest of the world was divided into eleven constituencies for French residents overseas."REDECOUPAGE ELECTORAL – 11 députés pour les Français de l'étranger" , Le Petit Journal, 22 October 2009"Les élections législatives", National Assembly

Parties

Main parties and their aims The Socialist Party sought to obtain a parliamentary majority with which to implement its policies. Three possible scenarios could have occurred if the left won overall: The Socialist Party has an absolute majority of seats, and can govern alone, without having to rely on the support of smaller left-wing or centre-left parties. The Socialist Party has a majority with the support of its government partners: Europe Ecology – The Greens, the Radical Party of the Left (centre-left), and the small Citizen and Republican Movement. The Socialist Party and its aforementioned partners lack a majority alone, and require the support of the Left Front in order to govern. The Left Front has indicated that it would never bring down the Socialist government, but that it would not systematically support the government's policies, and would require support for some of its own policy proposals."Les enjeux des législatives, parti par parti", Le Monde, 5 June 2012