French Election Vocabulary

Let’s start with the names of the French elections:

Different French Elections Names

1. Les élections présidentielles – election to choose the President
2. Les élections régionales – election to choose the regional council
3. Les élections municipales – election to choose the town council
4. Les élections legislatives – election to choose the Parliamentary deputies/members

Now let’s study the French election related terms.

French Election Terms

1. La campagne électorale – election campaign
2. Le candidat, la candidate – candidate
3. Le bureau de vote – Polling station
4. Voter (pour/contre) – to vote for/against
5. Voter blanc – to cast a blank vote
6. Voter à bulletin secret –  to vote by secret ballot
7. Un vote – a vote
8. Le droit de vote – right to vote
9. Un électeur, une électrice – a voter
10. Un bulletin de vote – ballot paper
11. La consigne de vote – voting instruction
12. Elire  – to elect
13. Le suffrage universel – universal suffrage, or right to vote
14. Le mandat – term
15. Le quinquennat – quinquennium, five-year period
16. Le tour – round
17. Le scrutin – election
18. L’isoloir (m) – booth
19. La cabine – cabin
20. La carte d’électeur ou la carte électorale – voter’s card
21. L’urne (f) – ballot box, urn
22. Se rendre aux urnes – to go to the poll
23. Le dépouillement – counting
24. Le système électoral – voting system
25. Les promesses électorales – campaign promises
26. le taux d’abstention – abstention rate
27. Le sondage d’opinion – opinion poll
28. La circonscription    – constituency
29. Le premier tour – first ballot
30. Le second tour – second ballot
31. La triangulaire – a 3-way run-off race (often in second rounds)
32. La quadrangulaires – a 4-way run-off race (often in second rounds)
33. Le taux de participation – turnout at the polls
34. Le Référendum – referendum
35. L’élection partielle – special election/by-election
36. Les résultats – results
37. la fraude électorale – election fraud
38. La réélection – re-election
39. Se présenter aux élections – to stand for election
40. Remporter les élections – to win the election
41. Perdre les élections – to lose the election
42. La victoire – victory
43. La défaite – defeat
44. Monsieur le Président – Mr President
45. Madame la Présidente / Madame le Président – Mrs President
46. Le premier ministre – Prime Minister
47. La cohabitation – split party government (President from one party ruling with an opposing party majority/prime minister) [lit: to live together]
48. Le ballottage – Failure for any candidate in the first round to gain enough votes so a second round has to be organized
49. Faire barrage – [lit: to block] alliance between different parties to prevent a particular party from winning
50. Se désister – To voluntarily take yourself out of a race to help another candidate win by not splitting the votes

This list of vocabulary was put together with the help of French immersion teacher Chantal. Check out her bilingual story to know more about the French presidential elections.

What about how to say to support in French? Soutenir ou Supporter? Avoid this easy to make mistake….

Madame Le Président, Madame La Présidente ?

In the French language, (Le) président in the masculine, (la) présidente in the feminine do exist, and are used for regular jobs, such as the president of a company.

But when it comes to politics, the Assemblée Nationale has different rules… They frown upon the feminisation of political titles and prefer a neutral gender, hence masculine in French… Read this obscure article in French if you have the courage… I personally gave up!

So, traditionally, it looks like the way to refer to a woman president of the French Republic should be “Madame le président de la République”, le président being “neutral” (but masculine). However apparently, that too can get you in trouble!

Now, all the newspapers use “la présidente de la République française” when they talk about the hypothesis of Le Pen becoming the first woman president of the French republic.. So I don’t know if L’Accadémie would agree, but “la présidente de la République” seems to be the way to go…

I even went at length and asked the forum of “Projet Voltaire” since it was all so complicated. Here is the thread should you like to read more…

By the way, should you write directly to the president, then the P will be uppercase, an uppercase of courtesy apparently: “Monsieur le Président”, “Madame le Président”, or “Madame la Présidente”….

If you enjoy learning French in context, check out French Today’s downloadable French audiobooks: French Today’s bilingual novels are recorded at different speeds and enunciation, and focus on today’s modern glided pronunciation.