Almost every French election has two rounds a week or two apart. The first sorts the field; the second, often
after deals and withdrawals, decides. Here is the calendar, how each election is run and the rules that govern the
last days before a vote.
Calendar
Coming up
PendingThree Assembly seats awaiting their substitutesEight deputies became senators on 27 Sep 2026. A deputy elected senator is replaced by their substitute (Code électoral LO 137, LO 176); a by-election is held only if that is impossible (LO 178). Five substitutes took their seats on 8 Oct. Aube 2nd (Bernard De La Hamayde), Charente-Maritime 5th (Vanessa Parent) and Gironde 11th (Christine Dumas) were still vacant in the Assembly's open data on 4 Nov 2026; a challenge to the Gironde senatorial election is before the Constitutional Council (2026-6580 SEN), and the vacancy is proclaimed only after it rules.
18 April 2027Presidential election, round 1Run-off 2 May 2027. Voters in the Antilles, Guyane, St-Pierre-et-Miquelon, St-Barthélemy, St-Martin and French Polynesia, and French citizens voting in the Americas, vote the day before.
March 2028Regional and departmental electionsSundays not yet set.
2029European Parliament and National AssemblyThe Assembly's term runs to 2029 unless it is dissolved first.
September 2029Senate, series 1170 seats.
March 2032Municipal elections
Recently
27 September 2026Senate, series 2178 of 348 seats renewed by about 162,000 grands électeurs. A new RN-aligned group (UNT) formed with 15 senators.
15 & 22 March 2026Municipal electionsAbout 35,000 councils. Paris elected Emmanuel Grégoire (PS); Lyon re-elected Grégory Doucet (Greens).
30 June & 7 July 2024Snap legislative electionCalled after the President dissolved the Assembly. No bloc won a majority.
Seven elections
Every office, its own rules.
Election
Term
How
Next
President
5 years
Two rounds, national. A majority of votes cast in round one, else a run-off between the top two after 14 days.
Apr–May 2027
National Assembly (577)
5 years
Two rounds in single-member seats. Win outright with 50% of votes cast and 25% of registered voters; else everyone with 12.5% of registered voters goes through, or the top two.
2029, or earlier on dissolution
Senate (348)
6 years
Indirect: about 162,000 grands électeurs. Proportional lists where a département has 3+ seats; two rounds elsewhere. Half renewed every 3 years.
Sep 2029
European Parliament (81)
5 years
One round, national lists, proportional (5% threshold).
2029
Regional councils
6 years
Two-round lists; the winning list gets a quarter of the seats as a bonus, the rest shared proportionally.
Mar 2028
Departmental councils
6 years
Two rounds by canton; each canton elects a woman and a man running together.
Mar 2028
Municipal councils
6 years
Two-round lists with a majority bonus; the council then elects the mayor.
Mar 2032
The 12.5% rule in 2024
225 withdrawals,
one barrage.
76 seats won outright in round one
312 seats where three or four candidates qualified: with high turnout, 12.5% of registered voters was easier to reach
225 qualified candidates withdrew before round two, most of them to stop the RN
91 three- or four-way run-offs actually held
Try it · Code électoral L162
Who makes round two?
Any 2024 constituency. The dashed line is 12.5% of registered voters — not of votes cast.
Round 1 · 30 June 2024
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Round 2 · 7 July 2024
The presidential election
Five hundred signatures.
To be on the ballot, a candidate needs sponsorship from 500 elected officials. The Constitutional Council publishes
them twice a week as they arrive; in 2022 it received 13,427.
Step by step
From decree to Élysée
Step 1 of 7 · Government
Election called
A decree convenes voters at least ten weeks before round one. The 2027 rounds are announced for 18 April 2027 and 2 May 2027.
Step 2 of 7 · Elected officials
500 sponsorships
About 42,000 mayors, parliamentarians and departmental, regional and European councillors may each sponsor one candidate. A candidate needs 500, from at least 30 départements or overseas units, with no more than a tenth from any one. The names are published.
Step 3 of 7 · Constitutional Council
The official list
The Council checks sponsorships and publishes the list of candidates; in 2022 there were twelve.
Step 4 of 7 · Candidates
Official campaign
From the second Monday before round one, every candidate gets equal broadcast time, official poster boards outside polling stations and a statement mailed to every voter at public expense.
Step 5 of 7 · Voters
Round one
A candidate with more than half the votes cast wins outright; it has never happened under the Fifth Republic.
Step 6 of 7 · Voters
Run-off
Fourteen days later, between the two leading candidates who have not withdrawn.
Step 7 of 7 · Constitutional Council
Proclamation
The Council examines complaints and proclaims the result; the new President takes office when the outgoing term ends.
Sponsorships received, 2022
Who reached 500, and when
Cumulative sponsorships by publication date; lines above the dashed 500 qualified. Mayors gave 8,712 of the 13,427. · Conseil constitutionnel ↗
The last 48 hours
Silence, then 20:00.
Campaigning stops at midnight on Friday. From then until the last polling stations close, no poll may be published,
broadcast or even commented on, and no result or estimate may be released before 20:00 in Paris, when the big
cities close. Overseas voters in the Americas vote on Saturday, so results there are held back too. At 20:00,
broadcasters show the pollsters' estimates based on early counts.
Try it · Law of 19 July 1977 & Code électoral L52-2
Can this be published yet?
Pick a vote and a moment (Paris time).
Official campaign under way (equal airtime, official posters)
A new poll may be published or discussed
Results and estimates may be published
Prediction-market prices are shown as information, not as forecasts, and are withheld from the eve of each round until polls close, as polls are. They carry no link: the national gambling regulator (ANJ) treats Polymarket as an illegal gambling site, ordered internet providers to block it in July 2026, and counts promoting it as an offence.