Abstract
The French party system emerged in the form of parliamentary factions in the Third Republic. Soon enough, these factions were no longer only evident at the parliamentary level, but were organising the nation. From 1958, there is a considerable change in the organisation of the political parties in France as the constitution of this year recognises political parties as legitimate ‘representative institutions'. These changes had an impact not only on the role of the parties, but also on the way in which politics and elections took place. The term ‘French party system' implies that there are political parties, which work together in a system as a system. The system is not static and so, as has been noticed over the years, varied in form. There have been three main compositions to the French party system: a strongly polarised multi-partisan system, strict bi-polarisation, and multi-partisan with a dominant party.
