List of political parties in France

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France

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Political parties in France lists political parties in France.

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

[edit] Political parties and leaders in Metropolitan France

[edit] Nationwide parties

In the "remarks" column: "minor" indicates a party that makes less than 3% in national elections; "major" indicates a party that has 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
Revolutionary Communist League Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire LCR Olivier Besancenot
Workers' Struggle Lutte Ouvrière LO Arlette Laguiller, spokeswoman
Left-wing
Socialist Party Parti Socialiste PS François Hollande major
Left Radical Party 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
French Communist Party Parti Communiste Français PCF Marie-George Buffet
Citizen and Republican Movement Mouvement républicain et citoyen MRC Jean-Pierre Chevènement minor eurosceptic
Greens
The Greens Les Verts Cécile Duflot
Centrists
Union for French Democracy Union pour la Démocratie Française UDF François Bayrou
Right-wing
Union for a Popular Movement Union pour un Mouvement Populaire UMP Nicolas Sarkozy major; As of 2005, the president (Jacques Chirac), the prime minister (Dominique de Villepin) and the speakers of both houses of parliament are from UMP.
National Center of Independents and Peasants Centre National des Indépendants et Paysans CNI, CNIP Annick du Roscoät minor, associated with UMP
Radical Party Parti Radical RAD minor, associated with UMP
Far-right
National Front Front National FN Jean-Marie Le Pen personalist strong law enforcement, against immigration, eurosceptic
National Republican Movement Mouvement National Républicain MNR Bruno Mégret minor, personalist strong law enforcement, against immigration, eurosceptic
Eurosceptic
Movement for France Mouvement pour la France MPF Philippe de Villiers strong law enforcement, against immigration, eurosceptic
Rally for France and European Independence Rassemblement pour la France et l'Indépendance de l'Europe RPFIE Charles Pasqua minor, one-person
Miscellaneous
Hunt, Fish, Nature, Traditions Chasse, Pêche, Nature, Traditions CPNT Jean Saint-Josse minor, mostly in European and local elections traditional rural values; refusal of environmental legislation and regulations restricting the right to hunt
Former Parties of Note
Rally for the Republic Rassemblement pour la République RPR Michelle Alliot-Marie major; merged into UMP
Liberal Democracy Démocratie Libérale DL Alain Madelin originally Parti Républicain - Republican Party or PR; merged into UMP

[edit] Minor parties

[edit] Royalists

[edit] Right

[edit] Center

  • Liberal Alternative (Alternative Libérale); The party defines itself as neither left nor right; Libertarian, favoring a presidential/congressional system and classical liberal economic reforms, emphasizing a more political, rather than economic, role in EU to promote civil liberties and liberalism as the basis of the EU Constitution.

[edit] Left

[edit] Greens

[edit] Other mainland (and Corsican) parties

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

  • Abertzaleen Batasuna (Basque Country, nationalist separatist)(largest Basque nationalist party of the Northern Basque Country)
  • Alsace d'abord (Alsace, far-right regionalist)(had 3 seats in the Alsace regional council in 1998)
  • Ligue savoisienne (Savoie, liberal separatist)(had 1 seat in the Rhône-Alpes regional council in 1998)
  • Union Démocratique Bretonne (Brittany, left-wing regionalist)(member of the present left-wing governing coalition in the Britanny region with PS and Les Verts)
  • Unione Naziunale (Corsica, nationalist separatist)(8 seats int the present territorial assembly)

[edit] Political parties in French overseas possessions

Note: Many of the parties in French oversea possessions have strong ties to counterparts in Metropolitan France.

[edit] Overseas departemental parties represented in the National Assembly

This list is incomplete.

[edit] Lists

[edit] See also