Four main political forces have dominated French politics since the declaration of the Fifth Republic in 1958: the neo-Gaullists, their allies in the non-Gaullist right or centre-right, the Socialists and the Communists. Support for the Communists has fallen since the 1980s, but over the same period the far-right has established itself as a permanent feature in the French political landscape (although France's electoral system usually denies it much representation in parliament). Following the recent merger of parties on the mainstream right, France could evolve from a bipolar multi-party system towards an essentially two-party system. Stiffened rules for winning a seat in France's regional councils or the European Parliament may limit the number of represented parties.

Political leaders, who mostly come from a clever elite, are notorious for their corruption (the conviction of a former prime minister, Alain Juppé, in February 2004 threw the right into disarray). France's 2002 presidential election was won for the second time by Jacques Chirac, leader of the neo-Gaullist Rally for the Republic. Lionel Jospin, the Socialist candidate, was eliminated in the first round of voting by Jean-Marie Le Pen of the far-right National Front—which is still attracting a lot of support, even though Mr Le Pen and Bruno Mégret, a former Front leader, have both since been barred from running for office.

Mr Chirac chose Jean-Pierre Raffarin as prime minister. Although the government enjoys a large majority in parliament, Mr Raffarin had to weather public strikes in May and June 2003 before passing pension reforms. The government's other priorities are reforming health care, tackling crime and boosting the failing economy.

France hopes to lead a European counterweight to American power, as a founder member and leader, alongside Germany and sometimes Britain, of the European Union. Admittedly, it sometimes bends the club rules to its advantage on occasion.

Union pour un mouvement populaire

The Union pour un mouvement populaire (UMP) was formally created in November 2002 with the encouragement of Mr Chirac. A quarter of a century earlier, in 1976, Mr Chirac had founded the neo-Gaullist Rassemblement pour la Republique (RPR) partly to serve as a vehicle for his own political, and specifically presidential, ambitions. Once elected to the presidency, Mr Chirac started to favour the creation of a single party for the mainstream right. This idea took shape in the 2002 elections when an embryonic party structure, the Union pour la majorite presidentielle, was formed, which facilitated the right's landslide victory. The acronym was retained when the alliance became a fully-fledged party in November 2002, although the name was changed to Union pour un mouvement populaire. Alain Juppé, one of Mr Chirac's most trusted political allies, became the UMP's first president. Although the UMP is riven by longstanding and often bitter personal rivalries that could yet test its unity, its creation signals a more ecumenical approach within the mainstream right as well as a more pragmatic approach to the Gaullist heritage: the UMP may be dominated by the old RPR, but it has also absorbed most of Union pour la democratie francaise (UDF) and Democratie liberale (DL).

The rest of the mainstream right

Until mid-1998 most of the other parties on the mainstream right were grouped together in the UDF, which was created as a party federation or alliance in 1978 on the initiative of the then president of the Republic, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. Five political parties belonged to the UDF, including Force démocrate (FD), with roots in the Christian Democrat tradition, and Démocratie libérale (DL), a free-market-oriented party. DL, the second largest party within the UDF, broke away under the leadership of Alain Madelin in June 1998, leaving the largest UDF party, the centrist FD, and its president, François Bayrou, in effective control of the federation. In November 1998 the UDF federation was turned into a fully fledged party, but the UDF split in 2002 with the majority joining the newly formed UMP, leaving a small rump under Mr Bayrou's defiant and strongly pro-European leadership.

The socialists

The Parti socialiste (PS) in its present form was established in 1971 when, at a congress held at Epinay-sur-Seine, a number of socialist groups united under the leadership of François Mitterrand. The new party succeeded the Section française de l’internationale ouvrière (SFIO), although its initial ideological anchorage was initially more to the left. When Mitterrand’s long presidency of the Republic (1981-1995) drew to an end, the PS needed reinvigorating. The party’s new leader, Lionel Jospin, surprised many by guiding the PS to victory in the 1997 legislative election and leading a Socialist-led coalition for the next five years. However, a traumatic defeat in the 2002 presidential and legislative elections has resulted in a new phase of uncertainty about the party's future direction. The party is split between “traditionalists” who remain attached to core socialist nostrums such as equality and redistribution, and “modernisers” who believe the party should jettison its hostility to the business sector and the free market.

The communists

The Parti communiste français (PCF) was a major force in French politics from the 1920s to the 1970s, but has been in decline for the past 25 years. The demise of Soviet communism, allied to the shrinkage of the PCF’s traditional electorate in declining heavy industry, has left the party with an uncertain future, even if the legislative election in 1997 marked a relative recovery in the party’s position and it participated in Mr Jospin’s left-of-centre governing coalition. In 1994 Robert Hue became the party’s first secretary, replacing Georges Marchais, the hardliner close to Moscow who had led the PCF since 1972. The PCF’s credibility was eroded by its participation in government and it performed poorly in the presidential and legislative elections in 2002. In March 2002 Marie-George Buffet became the party’s leader when she was appointed national secretary.

Other left-of-centre parties

In 1997-2002 the PS was supported by a coalition of three parties, the Parti radical de gauche (PRG), the Mouvement des citoyens (MDC) and the Verts (Greens). The three parties presented a single list in the June 1997 election, formed a single parliamentary group, Radical-Citoyen-Vert, and participated in government alongside the PS and the PCF (forming the so-called majorité plurielle). The three parties went their separate ways in the 2002 elections, but none fared well. The MDC, led by the maverick Jean-Pierre Chevènement, failed to win any seats in the June legislative elections, while the Verts won just three and the PRG seven.

The far right

Since its creation in 1972 the Front national (FN), or to give its full name, the Front national pour l’unité française (FNUF), has been led Jean-Marie Le Pen. It achieved its first nationwide breakthrough in the election to the European Parliament in 1984 and subsequently scored well in the first rounds of the 1988, 1995, and 2002 presidential elections, when Mr Le Pen won respectively 14.4%, 15% and 16.9% of the votes cast. Indeed, in 2002 he achieved second place, even if he was roundly defeated by Mr Chirac in the second-round run-off. The voting system has made it difficult for the FN to win seats in the National Assembly. Nevertheless, the party has made inroads at regional and local level over the past 15 years. It has also survived a damaging split caused by the decision of Bruno Mégret, a rival of Mr Le Pen, to leave the FN and launch a new party in early 1999 called the Mouvement national républicain (MNR). Despite Mr Le Pen’s strong showing at the 2002 presidential elections, the split has weakened the far right and made it almost impossible for either party to win any seats at legislative elections.

KEY FIGURES

Jacques Chirac (UMP)

Once the protégé of the Fifth Republic's second president, Georges Pompidou. Minister of agriculture, 1972-74; minister of the interior, 1974; prime minister, 1974-76 under Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, and 1986-88 in cohabitation under François Mitterrand; founder and president of the Rassemblement pour la République (RPR), 1976-94; mayor of Paris, 1977-95; defeated in the 1988 presidential election run-off; elected president of the Republic, 1995; re-elected president in 2002 for a five-year term. Despite an absence of ideological ballast and a reputation for political opportunism, he has now established himself as one of the Fifth Republic's major political figures.

Jean-Pierre Raffarin (UMP)

A former president of the regional council of Poitou-Charentes in the centre-west of France and a former member of the Senate. Plucked from relative obscurity in 2002 to become prime minister. Notwithstanding an affable, avuncular style and a carefully cultivated provincial image, Mr Raffarin is a graduate of one of Paris's best business schools with a professional background in advertising. That said, he did not attend the Ecole nationale d'administration (ENA), which is the passport to membership of one of the grands corps and, often, to ministerial office.

Alain Juppé (UMP)

Minister for the budget, 1986-88; secretary general of the RPR, 1988-94; minister of foreign affairs, 1993-95; prime minister, 1995-97. A scapegoat for the right’s defeat at the 1997 legislative election, partly because of his divisive, but courageous, approach to social security reform, Mr Juppé was the president of the Union pour un mouvement populaire (UMP) until his conviction on bribery and corruption charges this year. Could be a candidate at the presidential election in 2007, provided he can clear his name of allegations of financial improprieties linked to the RPR's funding and to Mr Chirac's long period as mayor of Paris.

Nicolas Sarkozy (UMP)

Deputy secretary general of the RPR, 1990-93; minister for the budget, 1993-95; secretary general and then interim president of the RPR, 1996-99; appointed interior minister in 2002. A consummate political showman, Mr Sarkozy has been entrusted with “restoring the authority of the state” by cracking down on crime and disorder. Makes no secret of his ambitions for higher office or his rivalry with Mr Juppé.

Martine Aubry (PS)

Minister of labour, 1991-93; headed Lionel Jospin’s presidential election campaign in 1995; the most senior member of the Jospin government in 1997-2000, with responsibility for employment and social security (and hence the 35-hour working week); stood down from the government to become mayor of Lille in 2001. A standard bearer of a more traditional French socialism, she enjoys the tactical advantage of occupying a centre-ground position within the Parti socialiste (PS) which is bitterly divided between its “social-liberal" and traditional socialist wings.

Laurent Fabius (PS)

Minister for the budget, 1981-83; minister of industry and research, 1983-84; prime minister, 1984-86; president of the National Assembly, 1988-92, 1997-2000; first secretary of the PS, 1992-93; minister of finance, 2000-02. Mr Fabius has made a remarkable political comeback following the long saga of the HIV-contaminated blood transfusion scandal when he was prime minister (and from which he was eventually acquitted of any criminal responsibility). Now formally number two in the PS's national secretariat, Mr Fabius harbours presidential ambitions. However, his lack of antipathy to the free market makes him an object of suspicion among party PS traditionalists.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn (PS)

Minister of industry and foreign trade, 1991-93; minister of finance, 1997-1999. Like Mr Fabius, Mr Strauss-Kahn is on the “social-liberal” wing of the PS, but is less contested by the party membership. His political career seemed to have come to an end in late 1999 when he was placed under judicial investigation for allegedly falsely dating legal work carried out for an organisation close to the PS, but he has since been cleared of the charges and is likely to play a prominent role in reviving the PS’s fortunes.

Jean-Marie Le Pen (FN)

Aggressively outspoken president of the Front national (FN) since its creation in 1972. Having established his ultra-nationalist, xenophobic and populist movement as the leading party of protest, the high-point of Mr Le Pen’s career was reached in the first round of the 2002 presidential elections when he pushed the socialist candidate, Mr Jospin, into second place. However, Mr Le Pen is likely to be a fading force in French politics, not least because of his advancing years