Presidentielle

Presidentielle is a French term used to describe anything relating to the presidency, most often the presidential election or the campaign season in a country. The word combines president with -ielle, a common suffix used to form nouns or adjectives for events or periods. In everyday French, la présidentielle is a shorthand reference to the presidential election, its candidates, and the run-up to voting.

In France, the presidential election is known as the élection présidentielle. It is the process by which the president of the French Republic is chosen. Since the 2000 reform, the presidency is elected for five years (quinquennat), and a president may serve up to two consecutive terms. France uses a two-round system: if no candidate obtains an absolute majority in the first round, a runoff is held between the top two candidates, and the winner of the second round becomes president. The campaign and voting are governed by electoral laws that regulate candidate eligibility, campaign finance, and advertising.

The term présidentielle is also used in other Francophone countries to denote their own presidential elections or campaigns. While the specific rules vary by country, many use a similar two-round runoff method or variations of majority voting. The expression thus frequently appears in political reporting, analysis, and discussion across Francophone media and literature to refer to the broader concept of presidential elections rather than to a single nation.