France elects 233 record number of women to parliament

France voted a record number of women into parliament, election results showed on Monday, after President Emmanuel Macron’s victorious Republic on the Move party fielded a gender-balanced candidate list.

Of the 577 newly elected lawmakers, 233 were female, beating the previous record of 155 set after the last election.

According to Inter-Parliamentary Union data compiled at the start of June, France jumped from 64th to 17th in the world rankings of female parliamentary representation and to sixth place in Europe, overtaking Britain and Germany.

LREM, which won an overwhelming majority in Sunday’s ballot, had the highest proportion of women elected, at 47 percent.

“For the first time under the (post-war) Fifth Republic, the National Assembly will be deeply renewed, more diverse, younger,” the party’s acting president, Catherine Barbaroux, said.

“But above all, allow me to rejoice, because this is a historic event for the representation of women in the National Assembly.”

Female representation in the National Assembly has risen steadily, from 12.3 per cent at the 2002 election to 38.6 per cent this time.

Most parties still put up more men for election, despite France having a system in which a party’s funding is restricted if women do not make up at least 49 per cent of candidates.

Female candidates have also tended to stand in constituencies they are unlikely to win, keeping the numbers of women who make it to the Palais-Bourbon low. (NAN)