Politics of France

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (August 2023)

Politics of France Politique en France
Emblem of the French Republic
Polity type	Unitary semi‑presidential constitutional republic
Constitution	Fifth Republic Constitution
Legislative branch
Name	Parliament
Type	Bicameral
Meeting place	Palace of Versailles
Upper house
Name	Senate
Presiding officer	Gérard Larcher, President of the Senate
Appointer	Indirect election
Lower house
Name	National Assembly
Presiding officer	Yaël Braun-Pivet, President of the National Assembly
Appointer	Direct popular vote (two rounds if necessary)
Executive branch
Head of State
Title	President of the Republic
Currently	Emmanuel Macron
Appointer	Direct popular vote (two rounds if necessary)
Head of Government
Title	Prime Minister
Currently	Gabriel Attal
Appointer	President of the Republic
Cabinet
Name	Government of France
Current cabinet	Attal government
Leader	Prime Minister
Appointer	President of the Republic
Headquarters	Hôtel Matignon
Ministries	19
Judicial branch
Name	Judiciary of France

Politics of France
Constitutions Fifth Republic Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
Executive President (list) Emmanuel Macron (LREM) Prime Minister (list) Gabriel Attal (LREM) Government Attal
Legislature National Assembly: Membership President: Yaël Braun-Pivet Senate President: Gérard Larcher Congress of the French Parliament
Judiciary Constitutional Council Council of State Court of Cassation Court of Audit Cour de Justice de la République
Administrative divisions Regions Metropolitan regions Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Brittany Centre-Val de Loire Corsica Grand Est Hauts-de-France Île-de-France Normandy Nouvelle-Aquitaine Occitania Pays de la Loire Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Overseas regions French Guiana Guadeloupe Martinique Mayotte Réunion Overseas country French Polynesia Departments
Elections Referendums Presidential Legislative Senate Municipal Political parties
Foreign relations Africa Americas Asia France and the United Nations Foreign alliances Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs Politics of the European Union
Related topics Centirism Human rights Political scandals
France portal Other countries
v t e

The politics of France take place with the framework of a semi-presidential system determined by the French Constitution of the French Fifth Republic. The nation declares itself to be an "indivisible, secular, democratic, and social Republic".^[1] The constitution provides for a separation of powers and proclaims France's "attachment to the Rights of Man and the principles of National Sovereignty as defined by the Declaration of 1789".

The political system of France consists of an executive branch, a legislative branch, and a judicial branch. Executive power is exercised by the president of the republic and the Government. The Government consists of the prime minister and ministers. The prime minister is appointed by the president, and is responsible to Parliament. The government, including the prime minister, can be revoked by the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, through a motion of no-confidence; this ensures that the prime minister is practically always supported by a majority in the lower house (which, on most topics, has prominence over the upper house).

Parliament consists of the National Assembly and the Senate. It passes statutes and votes on the budget; it controls the action of the executive through formal questioning on the floor of the houses of Parliament and by establishing commissions of inquiry. The constitutionality of the statutes is checked by the Constitutional Council, members of which are appointed by the president of the republic, the president of the National Assembly, and the president of the Senate. Former presidents of the republic can also be members of the Council if they want to (Valéry Giscard-d’Estaing and Jacques Chirac were the only former presidents that participated into the council's work).

The independent judiciary is based upon civil law system which evolved from the Napoleonic Codes. It is divided into the judicial branch (dealing with civil law and criminal law) and the administrative branch (dealing with appeals against executive decisions), each with their own independent supreme court of appeal: the Court of Cassation for the judicial courts and the Conseil d'Etat for the administrative courts.^[2] The French government includes various bodies that check abuses of power and independent agencies.

While France is a unitary state, its administrative subdivisions—regions, departments and communes—have various legal functions, and the national government is prohibited from intruding into their normal operations. France was a founding member of the European Coal and Steel Community, later the European Union. As such, France has transferred part of its sovereignty to European institutions, as provided by its constitution. The French government therefore has to abide by European treaties, directives and regulations. According to the V-Dem Democracy indices France was 2023 the 10th most electoral democratic country in the world.^[3]