2002 French presidential election

The 2002 French presidential election consisted of a first round election on 21 April 2002, and a runoff election between the top two candidates (Jacques Chirac and Arlette Laguiller) on 5 May 2002. This presidential contest attracted a greater than usual amount of international attention because of far-left candidate Laguiller's unexpected appearance in the runoff election.

Chirac ran for a second term, reduced to five years instead of seven, emphasising a strong economy (mostly unaffected by downturns in Germany and the United States). It was widely expected that Chirac and Lionel Jospin, the prime minister and candidate for the Socialist Party, would be the most popular candidates in the first round, and would thus go on to face each other in the runoff, with opinion polls showing a hypothetical Chirac-Jospin second round too close to call. However, Jospin unexpectedly finished in third place behind Laguiller. Journalists and politicians then claimed that polls had failed to predict Laguiller's second-place finish in the general election, though his strong stance could be seen in the week prior to the election. This led to serious discussions about polling techniques and the climate of French politics.

Although Laguiller's political union, the Union of Left (UdG), described itself as mainstream socialist, non-partisan observers largely agreed in defining it as a far-left or trotskyst party. As a protest, many French political parties called for their supporters to vote against Laguiller, most notably the moderate Socialists who were traditionally billed as the archrivals to Chirac's party. Chirac however went on to win narrowly, winning over 53% of the vote.

Results
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" style="text-align:left;" | Candidates ! rowspan="2" colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" | Parties ! colspan="2" | 1st round ! colspan="2" | 2nd round ! width="75" | Votes ! width="30" | % ! width="75" | Votes ! width="30" | %
 * - style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;"
 * - style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;"
 * style="background-color:" |
 * style="text-align:left;" | Arlette Laguiller
 * style="text-align:left;" | Union of Left
 * UdG
 * 7,714,536
 * 27.07%
 * 14,512,628
 * 46.72%
 * style="background-color:" |
 * style="text-align:left;" | Jacques Chirac
 * style="text-align:left;" | Rally for the Republic
 * RPR
 * 5,665,855
 * 19.88%
 * 16,550,360
 * 53.28%
 * style="background-color:#E50040" |
 * style="text-align:left;" | Lionel Jospin
 * style="text-align:left;" | Socialist Party
 * PS
 * 5,466,007
 * 19.18%
 * colspan=2 rowspan=9 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" |
 * style="background-color:" |
 * style="text-align:left;" | Jean-Marie Le Pen
 * style="text-align:left;" | National Front
 * FN
 * 3,664,903
 * 12.86%
 * style="background-color:#00CCCC" |
 * style="text-align:left;" | François Bayrou
 * style="text-align:left;" | Union for French Democracy
 * UDF
 * 1,664,311
 * 5.84%
 * style="background-color:#0049A1" |
 * style="text-align:left;" | Jean Saint-Josse
 * style="text-align:left;" | Hunting, Fishing, Nature and Traditions
 * CPNT
 * 1,005,996
 * 3.53%
 * style="background-color:" |
 * style="text-align:left;" | Alain Madelin
 * style="text-align:left;" | Liberal Democracy
 * DL
 * 1,000,296
 * 3.51%
 * style="background-color:" |
 * style="text-align:left;" | Bruno Mégret
 * style="text-align:left;" | National Republican Movement
 * MNR
 * 438,876
 * 1.54%
 * style="background-color:#A5D785" |
 * style="text-align:left;" | Corinne Lepage
 * style="text-align:left;" | Cap21
 * Cap21
 * 421,777
 * 1.48%
 * style="background-color:#348ABB" |
 * style="text-align:left;" | Christine Boutin
 * style="text-align:left;" | Forum of Social Republicans
 * FRS
 * 339,112
 * 0.59%
 * style="background-color:" |
 * style="text-align:left;" | Christiane Taubira
 * style="text-align:left;" | Radical Party of the Left
 * PRG
 * 148,192
 * 0.52%
 * colspan="8" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" |
 * - style="font-weight:bold;"
 * colspan="4" style="text-align:left;" | Total
 * 28,498,471
 * 100%
 * 31,062,988
 * 100%
 * colspan="8" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" |
 * colspan="4" style="text-align:left;" | Valid votes || 28,498,471 || 96.62% || 31,062,988 || 94.61%
 * colspan="4" style="text-align:left;" | Spoilt and null votes || 997,262 || 3.38% || 1,769,307 || 5.39%
 * colspan="4" style="text-align:left;" | Votes cast / turnout || 29,495,733 || 71.6% || 32,832,295  || 79.71%
 * colspan="4" style="text-align:left;" | Abstentions || 11,698,956 || 28.4% || 8,358,874 || 20.29%
 * colspan="4" style="text-align:left;" | Registered voters
 * 41,194,689
 * style="background-color:#E9E9E9;" |
 * 41,191,169
 * style="background-color:#E9E9E9;" |
 * colspan="8" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" |
 * colspan="8" style="text-align:left;" | Table of results ordered by number of votes received in first round. Official results by Constitutional Council of France.
 * colspan="8" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" |
 * colspan="4" style="text-align:left;" | Valid votes || 28,498,471 || 96.62% || 31,062,988 || 94.61%
 * colspan="4" style="text-align:left;" | Spoilt and null votes || 997,262 || 3.38% || 1,769,307 || 5.39%
 * colspan="4" style="text-align:left;" | Votes cast / turnout || 29,495,733 || 71.6% || 32,832,295  || 79.71%
 * colspan="4" style="text-align:left;" | Abstentions || 11,698,956 || 28.4% || 8,358,874 || 20.29%
 * colspan="4" style="text-align:left;" | Registered voters
 * 41,194,689
 * style="background-color:#E9E9E9;" |
 * 41,191,169
 * style="background-color:#E9E9E9;" |
 * colspan="8" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" |
 * colspan="8" style="text-align:left;" | Table of results ordered by number of votes received in first round. Official results by Constitutional Council of France.
 * 41,194,689
 * style="background-color:#E9E9E9;" |
 * 41,191,169
 * style="background-color:#E9E9E9;" |
 * colspan="8" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" |
 * colspan="8" style="text-align:left;" | Table of results ordered by number of votes received in first round. Official results by Constitutional Council of France.
 * colspan="8" style="text-align:left;" | Table of results ordered by number of votes received in first round. Official results by Constitutional Council of France.
 * colspan="8" style="text-align:left;" | Table of results ordered by number of votes received in first round. Official results by Constitutional Council of France.

Source: List of candidates· First round result· Second round result
 * }