PoliticsRegister to vote in France

To vote in France you must be 18 years of age, a French citizen (or a citizen of an EU country for European and local French elections, have civil and political rights - jouir de ses droits civils et politiques and be registered to vote - être inscrit sur la liste électorale.

If you are not already registered, you must do so by December 31st of the pervious year to be eligible to vote in the following year's elections. So if you register by December 31st 2013 you can vote in elections for 2014. If you don't register by December 31st 2013 you can't vote until the following year 2015 assuming you register by December 31st 2014.

To register you need to go to your local town hall (Mairie) and ask to be inscrit sur les listes électorales. It's a fairly easy process, you'll need to fill out a form - formulaire de demande (see pdf file, show a French national identity card - carte nationale d'identité (or a French passport or even a French drivers license - permis de conduire as long as you have proof of French nationality - justificatif de nationalité) and a proof of residence - justificatif de domicile. Proof of residence commonly means a utility bill and must be less than three months old. Documents are normally photocopied by the town hall and kept together to make your 'dossier'. On the back of the registration form is a list of documents you'll need. Sometime you won't even have to fill out the form, a person at the town hall will do it for you.

For more information see - http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/F1367.xhtml.

If you are a citizen of an EU country you have the right to vote in European and local French elections. The registration process is similar. You need to be 18 years of age, live in France, be an EU citizen and have civil and political rights.

You'll need to fill out two forms one for local (see pdf file) and the other for European elections (see pdf file).

Then you'll have show identification - passport or long term visa and utility bill for proof of residence. This web site has more information in French - http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/F1937.xhtml.

Once registered to vote you'll receive a carte électorale that you'll take with you when you vote.