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National Rally tops the exit polls – what happens next?

Emmanuel Macron will remain president after the election – but he’ll have to pick a prime minister from whichever party or alliance wins a majority in the National Assembly (France’s lower house of parliament).

Across France, there are 49 million registered voters and 577 constituencies – one for each assembly seat.

Candidates with an absolute majority of votes in their constituency are elected in the first round – but most fall short of this, meaning a second round is held.

The first round strikes out all candidates who fail to win the support of 12.5% of registered voters.

The top scorer wins the second round.

What happens next?

After the second round results on 7 July, the president picks the prime minister – usually from the winning party.

If voters pick an assembly and president from different sides of the political spectrum, they end up with something called “cohabitation”.

France has only had three periods of “cohabitation” since the Second World War.

If voters choose an opposition parliament, it reduces the president to a ceremonial role. No majority in parliament = no implementing your key reforms.

The prime minister has most executive powers, apart from defense and foreign policy.

Support free journalism and freedom by “buying us a coffee” here. We are volunteers, not a for profit company and any donation big or small helps keep us going. If you have an article you’d like to submit or volunteer and write some articles, please feel free to email us.