France: Political Development and data for 2019

The year 2019 was relatively quiet on the electoral front while social and political discontent and sometimes violence kept characterizing the period. The European elections confirmed the electoral upheaval of 2017. The new centrist and presidential movement launched in 2016, The Republic on the Move/La République en Marche (LREM), performed well enough in the European election of 2019. This election was nonetheless once again a success for the radical right National Rally/Rassemblement National (RN), the new name introduced by Marine Le Pen in 2018 as a replacement of the former Front National. The reshuffle of the party system was confirmed in 2019, with most of the traditional and established parties being progressively marginalized. The new format of the new party system remains, however, quite uncertain, the traditional bipolar structure divided between left and right being challenged on all fronts. If 2019 started with a progressive diminution in intensity of the Yellow Vests movement (due to the organization of the ‘Grand débat national’ (Great national debate) and the announcement of new massive public expenditures), 2019 ended as in 2018 with major social protests. This time, the reform of the pension system provoked massive opposition and a near paralysis of the public transportation system, as in 1995. (Introduction)