Lexique de la politique et les élections
Interested in French politics (la politique)? On this page you’ll find a comprehensive list of French political vocabulary and election terms. We’ve broken the list down into the following categories: people in politics, government terms, sectors, elections and verbs.
People in politics
You’ll find that almost all the political terms in French and English are almost the same, especially words for different people.
- President le président de la République
- Prime minister le Premier ministre
- ministers les ministres
- MP, congressman les députés
- Sentor les sénateurs
Government terms
The French political system can be a bit of a mystery for non-French people. This page on Expatic covers the French government structure in depth.
- politics la politique
- government le gouvernement
- executive power le pouvoir executif
- legislative power le pouvoir législatif
- Parliament le Parlement
- national assembly L’Assemblée nationale
- Senate le Sénat
- laws les lois (f)
Sectors
The following is a list of different areas the French government overseas.
- economy l’économie
- finance les finances
- employment l’Emploi
- foreign affairs les Affaires étrangères
- education l’Éducaiton nationale
- health la Santé
- youth and sports la Jeunesse et les Sports
- transportation les Transports
Elections
The following vocabulary list pertains to French political elections. In France, presidents serve a five-year terms and are limited to two consecutive terms.
- presidential election une élection présidentielle
- legislative election les élections législatives
- political parties les partis politiques (m)
- far right l’extrême droite
- far left l’extrême gauche
- candidate un candidat, une candidate
- independent candidate un candidat indépendant
- green party les écologistes
- voter un électeur, une électrice
- campaign rally un grand rassemblement
- ballot paper un bulletin de vote
- election day le jour des élections
- polling station le bureau de vote
- voting card une carte d’électeur
- polling booth, voting booth un isoloir
- voting box une urne de vote
- mayor un maire
- local elections les élections municipales
Verbs
- to vote on laws voter les lois
- to announce, promulgate promulguer
- to elect élire
- to get the majority of votes remporter la majorité des voix
- to cast a vote depose un bulletin
- to count the votes dépouiller les votes
- to announce the results proclamer les résultats
Related lessons:
More resources:
- Elections in France (Frenchtoday.com)
- French political terms (Quizlet flashcards)
- Words and phrases for discussing French politics (completefrance.com)
