At the moment, there are more than 40 political parties in France, although the country still does not have special legislation on them. Conventionally, they can be divided into "right" and "left" depending on the views. However, it should be borne in mind that they are constantly changing, dividing and merging with each other. Five parties can be named as the main political parties in France that play a significant role in the country's politics.
Historical background
The party system and political parties in France began to take shape during the French Revolution. With the fall of the monarchy, it was necessary to occupy an empty niche, but the system of dividing deputies according to their preferences for political direction became fundamental. They acquired their full-fledged role only at the beginning of the 20th century, during the Fifth Revolution. The 1901 law "On Association" significantly expanded the powers of French parties, and also began to regulate the procedure for their formation and activities. Today we can safely say that various parties have a very strong influence.on the political life of the country.
Party system
The party system of France, like any other country, has a number of its own special features. First of all, their formation is not associated with any state body that can allow or prohibit the formation of a party. All activities are based only on the Constitution and 2 laws that are simply unable to fully regulate their status.
The parties themselves are not even required to go through the registration procedure - only if they wish to open their own bank account. But even if such documents are submitted, as long as they meet all the requirements laid down at the beginning of the 20th century, their activities cannot be banned.
Any party must abide by the following principles:
- democracy and sovereignty of the nation;
- democracy and legislation as expressions of the general will of the people.
The whole purpose of the parties, according to the Constitution, is just to promote the expression of opinion during the voting - their purpose is purely social, not managerial. All this has led to the fact that the political picture is constantly changing - constant disunity cannot lead to the unification of the country. After the Second World War, 2 main doctrines were established in France that dominated for many years - one of them belonged to Charles de Gaulle, and the other belongs to the socialist ones. Now they have largely exhausted themselves, which led to the current crisis of the political system, which was exposed during the last presidential elections in 2017.
Socialist Party
Starting from 2012, it is the Socialist Party that can be called the ruling party of France, although the country traditionally denies the existence of a dominant group. Its leader is Thierry Marshal-Beck.
The views of its representatives are based on social democracy, so they are traditionally referred to as center-left movements. After the new president came to power in 2017, they have noticeably lost their positions, although they still have significant influence.
Their main ideology is supporting small businesses, raising taxes for the rich, reforming he alth care and education systems, supporting same-sex marriage. In total, this party of France gave the country 2 presidents, including Francois Hollande.
Communist Party
The Communist Party of France has significantly revised its main program in recent years and continues to gain popularity among the population. It originated in the 20s of the last century, but is still one of the largest in the country.
The policy of its leader, Pierre Laurent, leans towards the left. Their main dogmas are: independence of the country's policy from the United States and other European countries, social policy for the local population and stimulation of regional development, as well as support for national minorities.
Despite their rather numerous support, they do not occupy special places in government structures, therefore they cannot actively influence politics.
National Front
On the right flank of politics, the National Front can be attributed to the main parties in France. Since 2011, it has been managed by Marine Le Pen. The ideological views of the leaders could well be called ultra-right.
The following provisions are mentioned in their main program:
- complete restriction of the flow of immigrants from former colonial countries, as well as the end of family reunification programs for them;
- return to the country's traditional values: the old culture, the ban on abortion;
- helping small and medium-sized businesses and encouraging French manufacturers with lower incomes;
- returning the death pen alty, increasing sentences for repeat offenders and lowering the age of criminal responsibility;
- waiver of anti-Russian sanctions.
At the moment, the National Front is going through a crisis that could lead to the disintegration of the party. Several prominent figures immediately left the representatives, and subsequently the leading bank ordered the closure of all accounts in it.
Republicans
The centre-right party of France, which has long been the country's main conservative party. Its leader now is Laurent Vauquier, although for a long time it was one of the presidents - Nicolas Sarkozy. It was previously called the Union for a Popular Movement, but was renamed and changed its charter in 2015. Its most visible figures were Charles de Gaulle and Jacques Chirac.
Her main ideological points adhere to in addition toconservatism is also the policy of Charles de Gaulle, liberalism in the economy and Christian democracy. Party members believe that there are only 8 essential values that should be bestowed on every person. They are freedom, justice, development, merit, authority, work, responsibility and the right to live in a secular state.
Go Republic
The political party Association for the Renewal of Political Life, better known as "Forward the Republic", was created in 2016 by current French President Emmanuel Macron. Now it is headed by Christophe Castaner, and it belongs to the centrist bloc.
Her ideology is based on the views of social liberals, acting towards progressivism, trying to stay away from both the right and the left. After the parliamentary elections, she was able to take the majority of seats in the National Assembly, becoming very influential in the political arena. The phenomenon of such a great popularity of this party is due not to a well-thought-out program, but more to a serious decline of the old parties, which created a political vacuum.
Other parties
Right, left, centrist - there are a lot of political parties in France. Each of them advocates for their own views, however, in reality, they cannot represent noticeable results.
However, in addition to the movements presented above, you can pay attention to 2 special groups of parties:
- Regional parties that only care about certain regions of the country. They're inmainly distinguished by leftist views, pleading for greater autonomy or full independence for Corsica, Savoy, Brittany and Occitania.
- The National Republican Union has a special role in the political system. Its numbers are quite small, but their views differ sharply from other existing parties - their main goal is the complete separation of France from the European Union and NATO, as well as the rejection of the use of a single currency - the euro. Its creator François Asselino also ran in the last presidential election.
