How do the French produce such accurate early election results?
If you're used to British or American elections you might be expecting an all-night count, but in France a provisional result is released at 8pm that is virtually always right - so how do the French manage this?
It's a key part of the election for politics junkies in the UK and USA - staying up all night watching the results come in. But while France also has an overnight count, the overall result is pretty much known at 8pm on polling day.
Polls in France close at 8pm in most places, and then at 8pm a provisional result is released - follow the latest results HERE.
In the snap parliamentary elections, a provisional result from round one will be released at around 8pm on Sunday, June 30th and then at 8pm the following Sunday once voting closes in round two.
These résultats provisoires come with caveats that most of the votes are yet to be counted, but while the final percentages usually vary slightly the overall result is almost always correct.
So how does France manage this?
Snap elections
France's snap elections are parliamentary elections - each are is electing its representative in the Assemblée nationale (the French parliament). The party that wins a majority gets to nominate a prime minister.
They are not presidential elections - these are held separately and at the last elections in 2022 Emmanuel Macron was re-elected for a five-year term.
French elections are held in two rounds - the results from round one (June 30th) reveal which candidates have progressed to the run-off second round. This is usually two candidates but in some areas will be three or even four people - depending on the vote share.
The results from round two (July 7th) reveal which candidates have been elected in each of France's 577 parliamentary constituencies. Analysis then begins to see which, if any, party has reached the magic number of 289 seats - an absolute parliamentary majority.
Methodology
The provisional result comes from counting initial votes at a number of selected polling stations around the country.
Polling stations are carefully selected to ensure they provide a representative sample - rural and urban, north and south, elderly and young demographics etc.
Once polls close at 8pm, the votes start to be counted.
At the selected polling stations, once the first 100, 200 or 400 votes (depending on the size of the commune) are counted, they are phoned through to the polling organisations.
These results are then combined to produce the percentage score of each candidate.
Counting continues throughout the night and then on Monday morning once all votes are counted the Interior Ministry publishes the final, definite result.
Accuracy
This method is used for all election types in France - presidential, parliamentary, local and European - and it has (so far) never been wrong about who has won.
Each candidate gets a provisional percentage of the vote and this is usually revised by a few percent in the final results, so that what can initially seem like a very narrow victory is actually quite comfortable, or vice versa.
If the result is very close, the pollsters have several options - if two candidates are neck-and-neck they can release the names of the two candidates with the highest number of votes, but not their vote percentage.
If three candidates are neck-and-neck - and are therefore potential candidates for the second round - they can simply not release an early result and wait for the official count.
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It's a key part of the election for politics junkies in the UK and USA - staying up all night watching the results come in. But while France also has an overnight count, the overall result is pretty much known at 8pm on polling day.
Polls in France close at 8pm in most places, and then at 8pm a provisional result is released - follow the latest results HERE.
In the snap parliamentary elections, a provisional result from round one will be released at around 8pm on Sunday, June 30th and then at 8pm the following Sunday once voting closes in round two.
These résultats provisoires come with caveats that most of the votes are yet to be counted, but while the final percentages usually vary slightly the overall result is almost always correct.
So how does France manage this?
Snap elections
France's snap elections are parliamentary elections - each are is electing its representative in the Assemblée nationale (the French parliament). The party that wins a majority gets to nominate a prime minister.
They are not presidential elections - these are held separately and at the last elections in 2022 Emmanuel Macron was re-elected for a five-year term.
French elections are held in two rounds - the results from round one (June 30th) reveal which candidates have progressed to the run-off second round. This is usually two candidates but in some areas will be three or even four people - depending on the vote share.
The results from round two (July 7th) reveal which candidates have been elected in each of France's 577 parliamentary constituencies. Analysis then begins to see which, if any, party has reached the magic number of 289 seats - an absolute parliamentary majority.
Methodology
The provisional result comes from counting initial votes at a number of selected polling stations around the country.
Polling stations are carefully selected to ensure they provide a representative sample - rural and urban, north and south, elderly and young demographics etc.
Once polls close at 8pm, the votes start to be counted.
At the selected polling stations, once the first 100, 200 or 400 votes (depending on the size of the commune) are counted, they are phoned through to the polling organisations.
These results are then combined to produce the percentage score of each candidate.
Counting continues throughout the night and then on Monday morning once all votes are counted the Interior Ministry publishes the final, definite result.
Accuracy
This method is used for all election types in France - presidential, parliamentary, local and European - and it has (so far) never been wrong about who has won.
Each candidate gets a provisional percentage of the vote and this is usually revised by a few percent in the final results, so that what can initially seem like a very narrow victory is actually quite comfortable, or vice versa.
If the result is very close, the pollsters have several options - if two candidates are neck-and-neck they can release the names of the two candidates with the highest number of votes, but not their vote percentage.
If three candidates are neck-and-neck - and are therefore potential candidates for the second round - they can simply not release an early result and wait for the official count.
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