The president is chief of state, and is elected to five-year terms by direct, universal suffrage in a two-round system. Executive elections are considered free and fair. Incumbent Emmanuel Macron won 27.9 percent of the first-round vote in April 2022, while Marine Le Pen of the far-right FN won 23.2 percent. Macron won 58.6 percent and a second term in the second round in late April. The 28 percent second-round abstention rate was the highest seen for such a contest since 1969.

The prime minister is head of government and is appointed by the president. Labor Minister Élisabeth Borne was named premier in May 2022 and remained in office at year’s end.

Members of the lower house of Parliament, the 577-seat National Assembly, are elected to five-year terms in a two-round system. The upper house, the 348-seat Senate, is an indirectly elected body whose members serve six-year terms.

In the June 2022 parliamentary elections, Ensemble! won 245 lower-house seats, falling short of an absolute majority. The New Ecological and Social People’s Union (NUPES), a four-party left-wing coalition, won 131. The far-right FN won 89, a major improvement over the 8 seats it won in 2017.

France’s electoral laws and framework are fair and implemented impartially.

Parties are generally able to organize and operate freely.

The Republican and Socialist parties dominated French politics in the early 2010s. Other parties and new alliances like Ensemble! and NUPES, which includes the Socialist Party in its coalition, have since gained more visibility.

People’s political choices are generally free from domination. However, some media outlets have drawn outsized attention to controversial political personalities, potentially skewing public perception for economic gain.

No laws restrict the political participation of women, LGBT+ people, and other marginalized groups. However, far-right parties and nationalist ideologies have become more mainstream and emboldened racist commentary in public discourse.

The elected head of government and national legislative representatives determine the policies of the government. However, the government has consistently used Article 49.3 of the constitution to enact legislation that is defeated in Parliament; under Article 49.3, a government can force passage of a bill and must withstand a no-confidence vote within 24 hours of employing that maneuver. The article’s use is restricted for some legislation but not for certain financial proposals; governments during the Macron presidency have used Article 49.3 on a regular basis.

A 2017 law aims to reduce conflicts of interest. Despite this, corruption cases increased by 28 percent between 2016 and 2021 according to government data. In most cases, officials have resigned or been dismissed from office.

In a March 2022 report, the Senate criticized the presidency and other public agencies for signing lucrative contracts with consulting firms. Senators specifically accused one firm, McKinsey, of paying no corporate taxes within France despite staff members testifying otherwise.

The government generally operates with openness and transparency, though it has increasingly used Article 49.3 of the constitution to enact policy with limited debate or scrutiny.

In July 2022, a former executive at ride-hailing service Uber leaked exchanges between Uber staff and Macron, then the economy minister, between 2014 and 2016. In those exchanges, Macron offered to reform French law to assist its operations despite the then ruling Socialist government’s opposition to some of Uber’s activity.

The media generally operate freely and represent a wide range of political opinions, though journalists have faced violence in the course of their work.

Under the 2021 Global Security Law (LGS), journalists do not enjoy exceptions in circumstances where police officers order the dispersal of protests.

In 2019, Paris prosecutors ordered a raid of Mediapart’s offices after the outlet published remarks made by a former Macron aide. In July 2022, a court ruled that the raid was “neither necessary in a democratic society, nor proportionate to the objective sought” and ordered the government to pay Mediapart one euro along with a separate fine.

The constitution protects freedom of religion. Antidefamation laws penalize religiously motivated abuse, and Holocaust denial is illegal. The government maintains the policy of laïcité (secularism), whereby religion and state affairs are strictly separated. However, senior officials and politicians have engaged in antisemitic and Islamophobic rhetoric in the public sphere.

The state has placed Muslim organizations under greater scrutiny. The 2021 Law Reinforcing the Republican Principles (LRPR) allows the government to dissolve religious organizations, increases the surveillance of mosques and Muslim associations, and requires the latter to sign a contract of “respect for Republican values” when applying for state subsidies.

Muslim women are subject to several laws preventing them from wearing clothing related to their religious practice or identity. In February 2022, authorities in Paris banned a march of female football players wearing the hijab.

There are no formal restrictions on academic freedom in France.

Though citizens are free to express their views publicly, the government’s surveillance and tracking of individuals based on their political views has raised concerns in recent years.

The use of facial recognition is largely banned in public spaces with some exceptions. In May 2022, Nice mayor Christian Estrosi called on the National Commission for Information and Freedoms, a government body, to allow greater use of recognition technology, citing public safety concerns.

Freedom of assembly is normally respected, though authorities have used excessive force when dealing with political protests in recent years.

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) generally operate freely. However, the LGS and LRPR have complicated and obstructed NGO reports around protests and police actions.

The LRPR eased authorities’ ability to disband associations that allegedly disrespect so-called “values of the Republic.” The law has been used to target organizations that seek to combat Islamophobia.

In March 2022, the interior minister ordered the dissolution of the Antifacist Group of Lyon and Surroundings (GALE), saying that it meant to incite violence. In May, however, the Council of State suspended that decision, citing a lack of evidence that GALE intended to disturb public order. In September, the prefect of Vienne cited the LRPR when calling on authorities in the city of Poitiers to withdraw public funding from Alternatiba, an environmental NGO; Alternatiba planned to hold workshops on civil disobedience. The mayor declined, prompting the prefect to sue over the legality of the funding in October.

Trade unions are generally free to operate without undue restrictions. Social movements like the Yellow Vests of the late 2010s—despite rejecting affiliations with trade unions or political parties—and the formation of NUPES have provided momentum for trade union activism. In October 2022, oil workers, rail workers, and civil servants held strikes over pay, disrupting domestic travel.

France has an independent judiciary. The rule of law generally prevails in court proceedings.

Due process generally prevails in civil and criminal matters.

The number of complaints of police violence sent to the police’s internal disciplinary body has sharply increased since 2018, as have suspicions that the body is too lenient. Since the passage of a 2017 law governing police officers’ use of firearms, police have increasingly shot and killed individuals over reported noncompliance with their instructions. Police officers reportedly killed 13 people in traffic stops after such reported noncompliance in 2022.

In late December 2022, three people were killed in a racist attack against a Kurdish community center in Paris. Authorities said there was no immediate indication of a “terrorist motive,” prompting Kurdish community leaders to call on the government to call the attack a terrorist incident.

Both Islamophobia and antisemitism have increased in recent years. The far-right has become increasingly successful in using racist language to shape French public discourse.

Women face a notable pay gap, with European Union data showing that men earn 15.8 percent more than women on average in France. Sexual harassment of and violence against women are prominent issues.

Migrants and refugees continue to face societal discrimination and abuse from authorities, though Ukrainians fleeing the Russian regime’s invasion of their country have received support. Migrants and aid workers in Calais have faced mistreatment by police; while the Office for Immigration and Integration vowed to better address the needs of people living in informal camps, NGOs reported little improvement in Calais in 2022.

In December 2022, the government revealed draft immigration legislation that would, among other things, limit the number of appeals available to rejected asylum seekers and allow authorities to more easily deport foreign-born individuals convicted of crimes. Parliament is expected to debate the bill in 2023.

In September 2022, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the government’s decision not to repatriate French women and children held in Syria violated their rights; the women and children had been affiliated with the Islamic State militant group and were subsequently held in camps in Syria.

There are normally no restrictions on freedom of travel or choice of residence or employment. COVID-19-related restrictions, criticized for their discriminatory enforcement, came to an end in August 2022.

Private businesses are free to operate.

Individuals generally enjoy personal social freedoms, including choice of marriage partner and size of family. A bill enshrining the constitutional right to an abortion passed the lower house in November 2022 and awaited senatorial approval at year’s end. Fertility treatments are available for single women and lesbian couples; however, transgender individuals are not included, and surrogacy remains illegal.

During the 2020 and 2021 COVID-19 lockdowns, reports of domestic violence rose sharply, despite government measures to prevent this. Authorities implemented mechanisms to report violence and create safe zones, but their effectiveness is unclear.

Muslim women’s freedom to control their appearance is affected by several laws. While so-called “burkinis” are largely banned in public pools, the city council of Grenoble allowed their use in a contentious May 2022 vote.

Employment discrimination against women, French Muslims, immigrants of North African descent, and other marginalized groups hinders equality of opportunity. While the government acts against human trafficking, the problem persists in the commercial sex trade; some victims are also forced into domestic labor.