Understanding The French Presidential Election

In one month from now France will head to the polls to elect their next president.  There is a laundry list of candidates and the election is held on two days!  

Here is a breakdown of how presidential elections are run in France.

Technically you are not allowed to take photos at election sites. Shhhhh!

To start, the presidential election is a two-round election.  The first round will be held on Sunday, April 10, 2022.  If no candidate win a majority of the vote (+50%) in the first round, a runoff is held between the top two candidates which will be held on Sunday April 24, 2022.   

Elections are held on Sundays in France.  It makes total sense when you think about it because the majority of the people don’t work on Sundays so everyone can get out and vote without taking a day off work.  In fact, all of Europe and the majority of the world except for a handful of countries (USA I’m looking at you!) all vote on Saturday or Sunday.  The US does not due to the influence of protestantism and not working on the sabbath.

Our current president, Emmanuel Macron, finally (and without much suspense) declared himself a candidate last week, the night before the filing deadline of March 4.

To run for President, you need to obtain 500 signatures from elected officials.  Candidates have one month to do this from February 4 – March 4 for the 2022 election.  The candidates start way before February speaking with mayors of cities and villages all over France to persuade them for their signature.  In the past candidates only needed to have 100 signatures.  This led to way too many candidates in the first election round.  The most was 16 candidates in 2002!

Also, in the past the signatures of the elected officials were anonymous but since 2016 each candidate needs 500 signatures and the list of who you sign-off on is public.  Many mayors abstain because they fear repercussions if a different candidate is elected than the one they gave their signature to.  The “giving of the signature” is not a sign of endorsement at all but some officials still fear putting their name out there.  In 2017only 34 percent of eligible elected officials signed off on a candidate.  This process is criticized by some candidates (usually the way far left and way far right) but it is necessary to limit the number of really fringe candidates and to give some structure to the election.  Without this buffer it would become a circus!

The Constitutional Council validates all of the signatures, and collects candidate statements giving information on their incomes and business interests.  If everything looks good, the government publishes the list of presidential candidates on the fourth Friday before the first round.  This year the names were released on March 7, 2022.

This election there are 12 declared candidates!  Here are their photos.  In my next article I’ll give a description of each candidate.  

A couple weeks before the election every registered voter in France gets a packet (and I really mean a packet!) of reading material in the mail with the political program of each candidate.  This is done so each person can independently review the policies and programs of each candidate without being swayed by the media.  You can line your bird cage after reading the programs of the candidates you know you won’t be voting for.

Campaigns end at midnight the Friday before the election until after the polls close.  This means there are no publications or campaigning by the candidates or their teams.  No polls are allowed to be broadcast either.   There is total silence from the candidates and their camps.  Ahhhh so refreshing!

Voting stations open at 8 am and close at 6 pm in small towns or at 8 pm in cities, depending local regulations. By law, publication of results or estimates is forbidden prior to that time.  One past quirk was that voters in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guiana knew the results before their polls closed due to the time difference.  Since the 2000s elections are held on Saturdays in these places to encourage voting.

At 8pm on election night the first estimate of the results is known.  Literally the whole country is in front of the tv to hear the news anchor declare the winner.  It’s quite spectacular.  It’s not like in the US when returns come in throughout the night (or much later).  Boom, it is 8pm and someone is declared the winner.

Any French citizen over the age of 18 can vote.  At the age of 18 you are automatically registered.  You vote in the city where you reside and are registered.  If you are absent the day of an election you can have someone vote by proxy for you but that person has to reside in the same city you are registered.  Voting by mail is not allowed in France.

The whole process of voting is exciting (well at least to a history and civics nerd like me).  In a country of more than 67 million people voting is done using paper and manual counting. No hanging chads here!

When you walk in to the voting precinct you pick up pre-printed ballot papers from a table at the entrance of the voting office, usually a school.  There is one ballot paper for each candidate.  All 12 ballot papers for the candidates (1st round) will be sitting there.  Its good etiquette to pick up multiple ballot papers so no one knows who you are voting for.  In the 2nd round there are just the 2 remaining candidates’ ballot papers.

These same ballot papers are also sent by mail to voters before the election in your pre-election reading materials. You have your identity and registration checked by an official, after which you  take an envelope. If you are acting as a proxy for another voter, you take a second enveloppe. 

You enter a curtained booth and insert the paper of your candidate into the envelope. There is usually a garbage can in the booth and you put all the ballot papers of the candidates you didn’t choose in the can.  It’s always interesting to look who is sitting there.  I try to place my Le Pen ballot right on top of the garbage.

Sneaky voting booth selfie. It was my 1st time voting after I obtained French citizenship.

You then walk to the ballot box (it’s clear plexiglass) where the president of the voting office or their deputy checks your identity again. After the officials have acknowledged your right to vote, the ballot box is opened and you insert the envelope. 

And then the very very best part…. one of the officials, traditionally loudly, announces “A voté! (Has voted!)”. This is purely ceremonial and has a double meaning: your voix (voice) is taken into account and you have accomplished your civic duty. You then sign the voters’ list and your voter registration card is stamped.  Then you walk out and feel happy and proud that you did your civic duty!  It’s Sunday so you usually will head to the market, go for a walk or sit at a café reading the paper awaiting the news at 8pm. 

Couples that vote together, stay together! Here we are voting for the mayor of Paris during Covid. Turnout was VERY low and the protocol was very strict. Masks and lots of gel and bringing your own pen if you remembered.