Skip to Content

Our site has affiliate links. This means that we make a commission when you purchase a product through links on our site. Learn more.

French Politics & Election Vocabulary

French Politics & Election Vocabulary

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:

Sharing is caring!

Affiliate disclosure: Below you will find affiliate links. If you purchase something after clicking the link, we will receive a small commission. To learn more please visit our full disclosure page. Merci!

Sign up to download your free trial of À Moi Paris a French course which I recommend to my personal students to help with pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. After that, upgrade for access to 77 hours of audio lessons.

Read our full review of À Moi Paris and find out why we love it so much!

Are you struggling with French verb conjugations? Then we highly recommend French Today's French Verb Drills course. Get over 28 hours of audio exercises to build reflexes and dramatically improve your French level and confidence.

Read our full review of French Verb Drills and find out why we recommend this course!

David Issokson

David Issokson is a lifelong language enthusiast. His head is swimming with words and sounds as he speaks over six languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private online lessons. When procrastinating working on his site, FrenchLearner.com, David enjoys his time skiing and hiking in Teton Valley, Idaho.

See all posts by