polling station hours, proxy, candidates… Everything you need to know about the first round of elections

The French are called to vote on Sunday for the first round of early legislative elections, organized after the dissolution of the National Assembly. The vote aims to renew the 577 seats of deputies.

At the end of a blitzkrieg campaign, the time for voting is approaching. Twenty-one days after the dissolution of the National Assembly, announced on June 9 by Emmanuel Macron, the French will elect their 577 deputies during early legislative elections. The first round is organized on Sunday June 30 and the second will be held on July 7. Precipitated by the electoral setback of the presidential camp in the European elections, this vote will determine the composition of the hemicycle and, in turn, the political color of the future government. Here is all the information to have in mind before going to vote.

How does this election work?

The 49.3 million French people registered on the electoral lists, according to INSEE, are called to vote on Sunday for the first round of the legislative elections, in order to choose 577 deputies. Elected for a five-year term, they will sit in the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament. Deputies are elected by first-past-the-post voting in two rounds, which takes place in 577 constituencies. They are spread across mainland France, Corsica and overseas territories. Eleven constituencies are also allocated to French people living abroad. In each constituency, candidates present themselves with a substitute.

How and when is the second round organized?

Candidates can be elected in the first round, provided they obtain more than 50% of the votes representing 25% of those registered (and not voters). In constituencies where no candidate is elected on Sunday, a second round will be organized on Sunday July 7. The candidates qualified for this second round are the two who came first, as well as the following candidates having obtained a number of votes at least equal to 12.5% ​​of registered voters. This means that it is possible to find three or even four candidates in the second round in certain constituencies. The candidate who receives the most votes is then elected. In the event of a tie in the number of votes, it is the oldest candidate who becomes a deputy.

What time do polling stations open and close?

In mainland France, Corsica, Reunion Island, Mayotte, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna and for French citizens abroad (excluding the American continent and the Caribbean), polling stations open at 8 a.m. on Sunday and close at 6 p.m. (local time). They are open until 7 p.m. in many large cities, such as Lille and Rennes, and until 8 p.m. in Paris, Toulouse, Lyon, Bordeaux, Montpellier and Marseille. To find out the opening hours of your polling station, contact your town hall.

In some territories, voting took place. This is the case in Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyana, French Polynesia, and in the offices of embassies and consular posts located on the American continent. As for the French people abroad who have opted for online voting, they have already made their choice, between Tuesday midday and Thursday midday, Paris time.

How do I know if I am registered on the electoral roll?

If you have French nationality and you did your citizen census at 16, you were automatically registered, at the age of 18, on the electoral lists of your census municipality. If you have any doubts, or if you have moved, you can check your registration on the website Service-Public.fr. You will get the number of your polling station and its address. If you have not reported a change of address, you may have to vote in the polling station to which your former home is attached. It is too late to register on the electoral lists, or to change polling stations.

Is it still possible to make a power of attorney?

There is no deadline to establish a proxy. Technically, you can do it up until election day, to ask another voter to vote in your place at the polling station where you are registered. However, it is recommended to take care of it as soon as possible. “due to shipping and processing times”specifies the Ministry of the Interior.

You can do this by filling out a paper form, which can be printed or is available at police stations, gendarmerie stations and courts.

It is also possible to carry out the process online, via the website maprocuration.gouv.fr. If you have already had your identity verified at the town hall via the France Identity platform, the procedure can be 100% digital. Otherwise, you will then have to go to the police station, gendarmerie, consulate or embassy to validate your power of attorney.

On Thursday, three days before the first round, the Interior Ministry counted more than 2.1 million proxies. This is more than double compared to the 2022 legislative elections, when 1,021,350 proxies were established.

What do I need to vote?

You do not need your voter card. However, it is obligatory to present an identity document, of your choice: identity card, passport, driving license, vital card or any other document listed on the website of the government.

How many candidates are in the running?

There are a total of 4,009 candidates running in the 577 French constituencies. This number has never been so low in almost thirty years. Between the alliance of left-wing parties and the restricted deadlines for presenting candidates, there are 2,280 fewer aspiring MPs for these elections than in 2022. There are also fewer women candidates than in 2022.

To find out which candidates are running in your constituency, you can use the franceinfo address search engine.

When will we know the results?

No estimate or result can be communicated before Sunday at 8 p.m., the closing time of the last polling station. The results, by constituency, will be transmitted by the Ministry of the Interior from this time as the counts of the 577 constituencies progress. The media and polling institutes will also publish from 8 p.m. the first estimates of the balance of power between the different parties. This will be the case for franceinfo, which will also broadcast a projection of the future hemicycle thanks to an Ipsos-Talan estimate for France Télévisions, Radio France, France 24, RFI and LCP.