List of political parties in 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:
- on the left, one led by the French Socialist Party and with minor members such as the French Communist Party (and also Les Verts and the Left Radical Party).
- on the right, one led by the Union for a Popular Movement and its predecessors Union for a Presidential Majority and Rally for the Republic, with the minor partner the Union for French Democracy.
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; "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 | |||||
| Revolutionary Communist League | Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire | LCR | Olivier Besancenot | significant minor | luxemburgism, trotskyist |
| Workers' Struggle | Lutte Ouvrière | LO | Arlette Laguiller, spokeswoman | minor | trotskyist |
| Left-wing | |||||
| Socialist Party | Parti Socialiste | PS | François Hollande | 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 |
| 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, social democracy |
| Centrists | |||||
| Democratic Movement | Mouvement Démocrate | MoDem | François Bayrou | significant minor, former UDF created by Bayrou after his relative success in the 2007 presidential ballot to contest the legislative election of June 2007 | social liberalism, liberalism, centrism |
| 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 remain in the presidential majority with UMP | liberalism, Christian democracy |
| Right-wing | |||||
| Union for a Popular Movement | Union pour un Mouvement Populaire | UMP | Patrick Devedjian (acting) | 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, associated with UMP | Conservatism |
| Radical Party | Parti Radical | RAD | Jean-Louis Borloo and André Rossinot | 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 |
| 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 |
| National Republican Movement | Mouvement National Républicain | MNR | Bruno Mégret | minor, personalist. Split off the National Front | strong law enforcement, anti-immigration, eurosceptic |
| Eurosceptics | |||||
| Movement for France | Mouvement pour la France | MPF | Philippe de Villiers | minor | strong law enforcement, anti-immigration, anti-islamicization, eurosceptic, traditionalist |
| Rally for France and European Independence | Rassemblement pour la France et l'Indépendance de l'Europe | RPF | Charles Pasqua | minor, one-person | eurosceptic |
| Miscellaneous | |||||
| 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, conservatism |
| Liberal Alternative | Alternative Liberale | AL | Édouard Fillias | minor new libertarian-liberal party, in local and general elections | libertarianism; classical liberalism; self-ownership |
| 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 | neoliberalism |
| 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 |
[edit] Minor parties
[edit] Royalists
- Royal Alliance (Alliance Royale), led by Yves-Marie Adeline
- Nouvelle Action Royaliste, led by Bertrand Renouvin, called sometimes 'royalists of the left' (Renouvin supported Mitterrand in the 1981 and 1988 elections)
- Democratic rally (Rassemblement démocrate), moderate-centrist royalists
- Action Française, which is more a movement than a party. It is one of the most ancient political movement in France, and it was taken for the most subversive political organisation of the first half of the XXth century. Many far right politicians, such as Jean-Marie Le Pen or Philippe de Villiers are inspired by the ideas of the Action Française's founder, Charles Maurras.
- La Restauration Nationale.
[edit] Left
- Workers Communist Party of France (PCOF), Marxist-Lenninist
- Workers' Party (Parti des Travailleurs or PT), (trotskyist)
- Pole of Communist Rebirth in France (Pôle de Renaissance Communiste en France), led by Léon Landini
- Communist Committee Internationalist - Trotskyst (CCI-T), (trotskyst)
[edit] Greens
- Ecology Generation (Génération Écologie, or GE), led by Brice Lalonde
- Independent Ecological Movement (Mouvement Écologiste Indépendant or MEI), led by Antoine Waechter
- Citizenship, Action, Participation for the XXIst Century (Citoyenneté Action Participation pour le XXIe siècle, CAP21), led by Corinne Lepage
[edit] Center
- Union of Radical Republicans, which participated to the creation of François Bayrou's MoDem.
- Radicals
[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)
- Auvergne Defence
[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.
- Guadeloupe unie, socialisme et réalités (Guadeloupe: Guadeloupe unie, socialisme et réalités)
- Martinican Progressive Party (Martinique: Parti Progressiste Martiniquais)
- Martinican Independence Movement (Martinique: Mouvement Indépendantiste Martiniquais)
- Walwari (French Guiana: Walwari)
- Guianese Socialist Party (French Guiana: Parti socialiste guyanais, or PSG)
- Communist Party of Réunion (Reunion: Parti communiste réunionnais, or PCR)
- Tahoera'a Huiraatira (French Polynesia, close to UMP)
- Mahoré Departementalist Movement (Mayotte, Mouvement départementaliste mahorais, or MDM)
[edit] Lists
- List of political parties in French Guiana
- List of political parties in French Polynesia
- List of political parties in Guadeloupe
- List of political parties in Martinique
- List of political parties in Mayotte
- List of political parties in New Caledonia
- List of political parties in Reunion
- List of political parties in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
- List of political parties in Wallis and Futuna
[edit] See also
- Index of political parties to browse parties by name
- List of political parties to browse parties by country
- List of political parties by ideology to browse parties by name
- Membership of internationals to browse parties by membership of internationals
- Liberalism and radicalism in France
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