Citizens of the 27 member states of the European Union are called to elect MEPs between June 6 and 9, 2024. All the information on the French ballot.
The European elections will be at the heart of political news in the first six months of 2024. In France, 81 seats are to be filled in the European Parliament. Already, many political parties have formalized the name of their head of list. On the left, the parties will go in dispersed order, after the general rejection of the proposal from La France insoumise to present a common list to Nupes. On the right and in the center, uncertainty still remains over the name of the one who will lead the list.
On the side of the National Rally, hopes are high, while the latest polls promise the party to Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella a fairly large victory. In her wishes for the new year, the president of the RN deputies said she was approaching 2024 “with a heart full of optimism”. His party could well win nearly a third of the seats reserved for French MEPs in the European Parliament. Dates, head of lists, polls, voting method… everything you need to know about the elections.
The 27 member states of theEuropean Union will organize their ballots between June 6 and 9, 2024. In France, a single ballot will take place on Sunday June 9. Political parties will have to submit their final lists between May 6 and 17 to the Ministry of the Interior. The official campaign for the European elections will take place the week of May 27 to June 7. From June 8, French people residing on the American continent will begin to vote, as well as several overseas: Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyana and French Polynesia.
Even if the lists are not yet finalized, several surveys have already been revealed. Since May 2023, everyone has predicted a victory for the National Rally. An Odoxa poll conducted in mid-December credits Jordan Bardella’s list with 31% voting intentions. In second position, the presidential majority list is credited with 21%. The PS and LR are given neck and neck at 9%. Followed by La France insoumise (6.5%), Europe Ecologie Les Verts (6%) and Reconquête (6%). The PCF is given at 3%, below the threshold of 5% allowing for elected representatives.
An OpinionWay poll also dating from mid-December credits the RN with 27%, ahead of the presidential camp (19%), the PS (10%), LR (9%), EELV and Reconquest (8%) and LFI (6 %).
The official lists will not be submitted until May but several political parties have already announced the name of the person who would lead them. As early as this summer, Reconquête, the party founded by Eric Zemmour, announced that its list would be led by former MP Marion Maréchal. For the National Rally, it is none other than the president of the party, Jordan Bardella, who will lead the list, just like in 2019. On the side of Europe Ecologie les Verts, Marie Toussaint will be at the front of the ballot. The PCF chose Léon Deffontaines. In the PS, uncertainty remains: in 2019, the socialists allied themselves with Place publique and lined up behind Raphaël Glucksmann. If the latter has already announced his candidacy for 2024, the PS has not yet confirmed that the alliance will continue.
As for the presidential camp, nothing is official yet. However, it is the name of the secretary general of the Renaissance party, Stéphane Séjourné, who has the best chance of leading the list. At LR, François-Xavier Bellamy could, as in 2019, take charge, but again, nothing is official.
Some personalities have also indicated their candidacy for the head of minor lists: Nathalie Arthaud for Lutte Ouvrière, Guillaume Lacroix for the Radical Left Party, Florian Philippot for Les Patriotes, François Asselineau for the Union Populaire Républicaine (UPR), Hélène Thouy for the animalist party, or even the president of the hunting federation Willy Schraen for a “Rural Alliance” list and the former candidate for the environmentalist primary Jean-Marc Governatori for an “Ecology at the Center” list.
In 2024, the French are called to elect 81 European deputies, compared to 79 in 2019. The distribution of seats by country varies from one election to another depending on the demographics of each member state. Additionally, 2024 will mark the first election since the UK left. MEPs are elected for a five-year term. Since 2014, France has voted using a multi-member proportional ballot with closed lists: each party presents a unique list of 81 names. Seats will be allocated in proportion to the number of votes collected for each list. However, a threshold of 5% is set, below which no seats are allocated.