#2025-6571 ANFrench Constitutional Council Decision No. 2025-6571 AN of April 3, 2026
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The French Constitutional Council rejected the election challenge filed by candidate Thomas Brant against the results of the 5th constituency for French citizens abroad in the 2025 legislative elections. Brant alleged that the overlap between the official campaign period and the electronic voting window allowed better-resourced candidates to conduct last-minute targeted propaganda, undermining electoral fairness. The Council ruled that this overlap is explicitly permitted by Articles L. 47 A, R. 176-3-8 and R. 176-3-10 of the Electoral Code and does not violate Articles 3 and 4 of the Constitution. Brant also claimed that opponent Nathalie Coggia benefited from unfair advantage due to her political party endorsement. The Council dismissed this, stating that political parties may endorse candidates and that Brant provided no evidence of deceptive maneuvers that altered the vote's sincerity. The election of Mme Coggia was upheld.
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Key Changes
- Reaffirms legality of overlapping official campaign period with internet voting window (second Friday before election at 12:00 Paris time until Wednesday before election at 12:00)
- Confirms political parties may publicly endorse and recommend their invested candidates without violating equality principles
- Establishes that challenger must provide concrete evidence of deceptive maneuvers to successfully claim breach of electoral integrity
+ 1 more changes with Pro
Obligations
What this law requires
Official electoral campaign period must open on the second Monday preceding the election date and close the day before the election at midnight (Article L. 47 A of the Electoral Code)
Electronic voting must open on the second Friday preceding the election date at 12:00 Paris time and close on the Wednesday preceding the election date at 12:00 Paris time (Articles R. 176-3-8 and R. 176-3-10 of the Electoral Code)
Constitutional Council election dispute decisions must be published in the Journal officiel de la République française (Official Journal of the French Republic)
Constitutional Council election dispute decisions must be notified in accordance with Article 18 of the regulations governing Constitutional Council procedures for election disputes of deputies and senators
Political parties are permitted to endorse candidates for legislative elections and recommend voters to vote for their endorsed candidates