La République En Marche! and MoDem En Marche!, the movement founded by
Emmanuel Macron, who won the presidential election under its banner, planned to run candidates in all 577 constituencies under the banner of "La République En Marche!", of which at least half were planned to be from civil society – the other half having previously held political office – and half women. No "double investiture" was permitted, though the original requirement of prospective candidates to leave their previous political party was waived by Macron on 5 May. In addition to those parameters, he specified in his initial press conference on 19 January that he would require that candidates demonstrate "probity" (disqualifying any prospective candidates with a criminal record), "political plurality" (representing the threads of the movement), and "efficacy". Those wishing to seek the investiture of En Marche! were required to sign up online, and the movement received nearly 15,000 applications by late April. For nominations sought by those in the political world, the popularity, establishment, and ability to appear in the media of applicants are also considered, with the most difficult cases adjudicated by Macron himself. To represent themselves under the label of La République En Marche!, however, outgoing deputies must decide to leave the
Socialist Party (PS) or
the Republicans (LR). After his victory in the presidential election, Macron resigned his post as president of En Marche!, with
Catherine Barbaroux appointed as interim president. The movement, renamed, presented candidates under the label of "La République En Marche!"; though the full list of 577 investitures was to be published on 11 May, The delay was attributed to an influx of applications following Macron's victory in the presidential election – more than a thousand, bringing the total to over 16,000 – with additional complexity arising from the interest of former
Prime Minister Manuel Valls in standing as a La République En Marche! candidate without either submitting an application or leaving the Socialist Party. Since the announcement that "La République En Marche!" would be transformed into a formal political party, however, the conditions of securing an investiture tightened considerably, with candidates expected to be "administratively" attached to the party to prevent public funding (distributed on the basis of electoral results) from being received by the PS or the Republicans. The initial list of 428 investitures was revealed on 11 May, with exact gender parity (214 men and 214 women), with 94% of candidates not outgoing deputies; 93% employed, 2% looking for work, 4% retired, 1% students; 52% from civil society; an average age of 46 (the youngest being 24 and oldest being 62), compared to 60 for outgoing deputies; and 24 current deputies, mostly Socialists, invested under the label of La République En Marche! The total number of remaining investitures to be concluded is 148. Numerous candidates were invested in error, including
Mourad Boudjellal,
François Pupponi, and Augustin Augier, who did not apply; , an outgoing
PRG deputy who renounced his investiture and raised concerns about the potential appointment of
Édouard Philippe as prime minister; and
Thierry Robert, an outgoing deputy who contravened the requirement of not having a criminal history. The list was further updated on 15 May with an additional 83 candidates, of which half were proposed by the MoDem, bringing the overall total to 511, and leaving 66 constituencies to be decided, of which about 30 are reserved for figures on the right and left who expressed support for Macron's project and most of the rest constituencies for overseas departments; ultimately, 51 constituencies with outgoing deputies on both the left and right considered "Macron-compatible" were not contested; Delevoye stated that some twenty constituencies for overseas France were frozen due to local party financing peculiarities, with other vacated constituencies for other political personalities apparently interested in joining in the presidential majority. On 15 May, Édouard Philippe, a deputy of the Republicans, was appointed as prime minister. After the selection of ministers to the
newly formed government on 17 May, the movement announced that it would not invest candidates in 56 constituencies, hoping to protect a number of those on the left and right who had expressed support but not rallied, with the possibility of adjustments before the deadline on 19 May. Appointed ministers contesting the legislative elections were obligated to resign if not elected: namely,
Christophe Castaner,
Marielle de Sarnez,
Richard Ferrand,
Annick Girardin,
Bruno Le Maire, and
Mounir Mahjoubi; all six were eventually elected.
MoDem After
François Bayrou endorsed Macron in February, the
Democratic Movement (MoDem), which he leads, was reportedly to receive 90 constituencies, of which 50 were considered winnable, for its candidates. However, hours of the publication of the initial list, Bayrou indicated that it did not have the "approval" of the MoDem, unsatisfied with the number of constituencies for MoDem candidates, and appealed to Macron to permit joint investitures and planned to convene the political bureau of his party on 12 May. He was also unhappy with what he called a "recycling operation of the PS"; according to a tally by MoDem officials, among the 428 investitures announced, 153 were granted to PS/ex-PS/PRG, 38 to the MoDem, 25 to LR or miscellaneous right, 15 to UDI/ex-UDI, and 197 to civil society figures. On 12 May, Bayrou announced that he had secured a "solid and balanced" draft agreement, claiming that his party would ultimately obtain a bit more than a hundred investitures. A MoDem candidate replaced , former communications advisor to Hollande, in
Ille-et-Vilaine's 2nd constituency after fierce objections by local activists and his renunciation of the investiture, which he claimed he did not apply for, and mayor of
Mont-de-Marsan Geneviève Darrieussecq and
Senator Leila Aïchi, both members of the MoDem executive bureau, received investitures. Bayrou's party hopes to elect at least 15 deputies, necessary for the formation of a parliamentary group in the National Assembly; additionally, to be reimbursed for expenses, the party must receive at least 1% of the vote in at least 50 constituencies where it is present. Public financing is also allocated as a function of the number of elected officials, hence the ambitions of the MoDem.
The Republicans (LR) and UDI On 2 May,
François Baroin was appointed by the political bureau of
the Republicans (LR) to head the campaign for the legislative elections. A week before, he said that he would be available to serve as Prime Minister in a cohabitation government under
Emmanuel Macron and considered it impossible not to run on the same program as its defeated presidential candidate
François Fillon, who was eliminated in the first round of the presidential election, in the legislative elections. Baroin has indicated pessimism with regard to the prospects of the Republicans in the legislative elections, saying "At 150 [seats] is good. From 100 to 150 is not bad. Below 100 is a failure." The platform of the Republicans for the legislative election, published on 10 May, breaks with that of its defeated Fillon, who was eliminated in the first round, on several points. Though it preserved the plans to eliminate the
35-hour workweek and reform to the
solidarity tax on wealth (ISF) on which he campaigned, it differed on terrorism, immigration, family, and European policy. The party ran in alliance with the
Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI), whose executive bureau on 7 March approved an accord with the Republicans reserving them 96 constituencies, including the 28 seats currently held by outgoing deputies, and preparing primaries in 42 constituencies between UDI and LR candidates. On 15 May, some 173 LR and UDI elected officials and personalities, including
Jean-Louis Borloo,
Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet,
Christian Estrosi, and
Thierry Solère, appealed to their fellows to "respond to the hand extended by the president", after which the Republicans published a counter-appeal, insisting that "France needs more than ever a majority of the right and centre in the National Assembly". On 20 May, Baroin launched the campaign of the Republicans at the
Bois de Vincennes, determined to impose cohabitation upon Macron and provide him with the "majority needed by France", a goal complicated by the inclusion of LR personalities in the formation the
cabinet, and principally by the selection of
Édouard Philippe as
Prime Minister. In his speech, Baroin made his case for a "majority without ambiguity, without pretense. A real majority and not a majority of circumstances, meetings, and personal ambitions", describing the legislative elections before an audience of nearly 2,000 as "the mother of battles". Meanwhile, the appointment of three LR personalities as ministers in the government – Édouard Philippe,
Bruno Le Maire, and
Gérald Darmanin – in its attempt at a recomposition of politics infringed upon the space occupied by the party. Emphasizing that many mobilized merely against Le Pen and not for Macron, he wielded the party's program, borrowing elements from that of Fillon's.
National Front (FN) The
National Front (FN), led by
Marine Le Pen, ended its pre-investitures for the legislative elections in December 2016. The average age of the candidates is 47 years, with near-gender parity and almost 80% of candidates already having a local mandate (i.e., within a municipal, departmental, or regional council), compared to a rate of barely 10% in 2012. Some 50 constituencies were planned to be possibly contested by joint candidacies with
Debout la France (DLF) following the rallying of
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan to Le Pen after the second round of the presidential election, The FN ran a candidate against Dupont-Aignan, the sitting deputy for
Essonne's 8th constituency. Outgoing deputy
Marion Maréchal-Le Pen announced her intention to leave politics on 9 May, and as such did not run in the legislative elections. Among the list of 553 candidates already invested by the FN include
Florian Philippot in
Moselle's 6th,
Gilbert Collard in
Gard's 2nd,
Stéphane Ravier in
Bouches-du-Rhône's 3rd,
Wallerand de Saint-Just in
Paris's 13th, and
Sophie Montel in
Doubs's 4th. Of the 553 candidates in the initial list, 86% are candidates not previously invested in 2012, with nearly 70% holding at least one elected office. The expulsion of
Jean-Marie Le Pen from the party in August 2015 was followed by the departure of a number of his companions, who as a result were not invested as candidates. A number of mayors elected in the
2014 municipal elections chose not to stand in order to retain their local mandates, including
Julien Sanchez in
Beaucaire,
Franck Briffaut in
Villers-Cotterêts, and
David Rachline in
Fréjus. The alliance with the small party of
Paul-Marie Coûteaux,
Sovereignty, Identity and Freedoms (SIEL), was broken in 2016; the party in 2012 provided 34 of the candidates invested by the FN. Le Pen herself was reluctant to introduce herself as a candidate after her defeat in the presidential election, with initial hopes of 80 to 100 deputies within the FN revised sharply downwards to 15 target constituencies. On 18 May, she confirmed that she would once again run in
Pas-de-Calais's 11th constituency (where she lost by a hundred votes to
Philippe Kemel in
2012), which includes
Hénin-Beaumont (whose mayor is
Steeve Briois of the FN) and where she received 58.2% of votes in the second round of the presidential election. Following the announcement, her father Jean-Marie Le Pen decided not to present a candidate under the banner of the "Union of Patriots", an alliance of far-right movements presenting 200 candidates across France, in the constituency. Following the victory of Macron in the presidential election, Le Pen stated that she did not deem the proposed reform of the labour code as a priority, criticizing the planned usage of ordonnances as a coup de force and believing that amending it to allow greater flexibility was nothing more than a demand of large employers. She also further critiqued the plans as the
El Khomri law "times a thousand", but calling not for demonstrations on the streets but a vote for the FN.
La France Insoumise (FI) La France Insoumise, the political movement launched by
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, former co-president of the
Left Party (PG) who ran as a presidential candidate in both 2012 and 2017, intended to run candidates in all 577 constituencies. In a list of 410 investitures published in mid-February, gender parity was maintained, 60% of candidates came from civil society, and the average age was only 43 years, with the youngest at 19 years old. Candidates were selected after the national committee reviewed online applications of prospects. The constituencies contested by the movement included some held or contested by members of the
French Communist Party (PCF). Relations deteriorated between the two, and in early May la France Insoumise proposed that the groupings withdraw competing candidacies in 26 constituencies. However, on 9 May, campaign spokesman
Manuel Bompard said that there would be no accord between the two parties in the legislative elections and blamed the PCF for the failure to reach an agreement. On 11 May, Mélenchon announced that he would stand as a candidate in
Bouches-du-Rhône's 4th constituency in a letter addressed to the adherents of his movement in
Marseille, where the riding is located; he came first in the city during the first round of the presidential election, with almost 25% of the vote, and in the constituency he received 39.09%, far ahead of both Macron and Le Pen and one of his best scores nationally. The constituency was then held by Socialist deputy
Patrick Mennucci, considered a "friend" by Mélenchon himself.
Socialist Party (PS) and allies The first wave of 395 Socialist candidates for the legislative elections was invested on 17 December 2016, including a number who supported the candidacy of Emmanuel Macron in the presidential election, such as in
Cantal's 1st,
Olivier Véran in
Isère's 1st,
Jean-Louis Touraine in
Rhône's 3rd,
Corinne Erhel in
Côtes-d'Armor's 5th,
Richard Ferrand in
Finistère's 6th,
Jean-Jacques Bridey in
Val-de-Marne's 7th,
Stéphane Travert in
Manche's 3rd, and
Christophe Castaner in
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence's 2nd constituency. Of the outgoing deputies invested by
La République En Marche!,
Frédéric Barbier, deputy for
Doubs's 4th constituency, was the only one to also remain invested by the PS; , national secretary of elections for the Socialist Party, stated that Barbier would retain his investiture as he was the "best to fight the National Front". The party presented its own candidates in more than 400 constituencies, with the rest reserved for its allies
Europe Ecology – The Greens (EELV), the
Union of Democrats and Ecologists (UDE), and the
Radical Party of the Left (PRG).
First Secretary Jean-Christophe Cambadélis also indicated that the PS hoped to open discussions with la France Insoumise and En Marche! for agreements in constituencies where Le Pen obtained more than 60 percent of the vote in the second round of the presidential election, as well as in ridings in which the second round of the legislative elections could foreseeably be fought between the right and the FN. On 9 May, the national bureau of the Socialist Party approved its three-page platform for the legislative elections entitled "a clear contract for France, a constructive and solidary left". It abandoned many of the proposals of its defeated presidential candidate
Benoît Hamon and drew a number of red lines with regard to the program of Emmanuel Macron, refusing to allow the reform of the
labour code by
ordonnance and abolition of the
solidarity tax on wealth (ISF) on non-property assets. Hamon himself chose to support candidates running against prominent reformists invested by the Socialist Party, backing Michel Nouaille of the
French Communist Party (PCF) against former Prime Minister
Manuel Valls, whom he defeated in the
presidential primary; the feminist of EELV/PCF against
Myriam El Khomri, namesake of her
labour law; Philippe Rio of the PCF against
Malek Boutih, a Socialist running under the banner of the presidential majority (having been denied an investiture) who violently denounced Hamon as a candidate who would "resonate with a fringe Islamic-leftist"; and Salah Amokrane of the EELV against
Gérard Bapt, who made a controversial trip to Syria with three other parliamentarians in 2015.
Europe Ecology – The Greens (EELV) In exchange for the withdrawal of ecologist candidate
Yannick Jadot in the presidential election in favor of Socialist candidate
Benoît Hamon in February, the PS agreed to reserve 42 constituencies for the EELV (including all those of its outgoing deputies), and the accord was formally approved by EELV on 19 April. The agreement also provided that the EELV did not present candidates in 53 constituencies. The investiture of former
housing minister Cécile Duflot was maintained despite the opposition of
mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, as was that of
Sergio Coronado, who supported
Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the presidential election; however, he nevertheless faced a Socialist candidate in the legislative elections. Many of the remaining constituencies are those of Socialist deputies who backed
Emmanuel Macron in the presidential election. On 15 May, the EELV revealed its list of candidates for the legislative elections, investing 459 candidates (228 men and 231 women) and supporting 52 Socialists, 16 Communists, and
François Ruffin under the banner of
la France Insoumise. From the ranks of the party's leaders, national secretary
David Cormand presented himself in
Seine-Maritime's 4th, deputy national secretary
Sandrine Rousseau in
Pas-de-Calais's 9th, and spokesperson
Julien Bayou in
Paris's 5th.
French Communist Party (PCF) Though the
French Communist Party (PCF) formally supported the candidacy of
Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the presidential election, it still ran its own candidates in the legislative elections. Negotiations between the two failed to produce an agreement, and on 9 May la France Insoumise announced that it would continue on in the legislative elections without allying with the PCF. The PCF and FI were face-to-face in almost all constituencies, with the PCF planning to invest 535 candidates and FI almost as many, though the possibility of a withdrawal from 20 or so constituencies remained. On 16 May, the PCF published a list of 484 candidates invested in the legislative elections, refraining from appearing in a number of constituencies in favor of candidates from la France Insoumise, EELV, PS, or
Ensemble! (
Clémentine Autain). According to the PCF, 40% of its candidates were younger than 50, and 20% younger than 40, with an average age of 51; a quarter were retired, 26% employees, 20% civil servants, and 7% manual workers. PCF candidates campaigned under the label of "PCF–
Front de Gauche".
Debout la France (DLF) Debout la France (Arise France; abbreviated as DLF), led by former presidential candidate
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, intended to present candidates in all 577 constituencies; despite Dupont-Aignan's support of Le Pen in the second round, he reiterated that DLF candidates would face those of the FN, and the national council of Debout la France stated on 13 May that it would invest candidates in almost all constituencies, negotiations with the FN having failed upon the issue of joint investitures.
Others Lutte Ouvrière (Workers' Struggle; abbreviated as LO) presented candidates in 553 constituencies, with 539 in metropolitan France, six in
Réunion, four in
Martinique, and four in
Guadeloupe; presidential candidate
Nathalie Arthaud contested
Seine-Saint-Denis's 6th constituency, where she received 3% in the 2012 legislative elections. In terms of financing, the party accumulated some €2 million to cover costs. The
New Anticapitalist Party (NPA) was unlikely to present candidates in the legislative elections due to the potentially high cost for the party, as campaign expenses are reimbursed only if a party's candidates attain 1% in at least 50 constituencies. Mouvement 100%, a coalition of 28 parties, including the
Independent Ecological Alliance (AEI), planned to present candidates in all 577 constituencies. The
Popular Republican Union (UPR) of
François Asselineau planned to present candidates in all 577 constituencies, with 574 ultimately invested. == Opinion polls ==