[15][better source needed] The law also does not take electability into account, and significant numbers of women candidates run in constituencies where their party does not stand a real chance.

[24] Officially, the dual purpose of the redistricting was to ensure a more equal number of voters per constituency, but also to provide seats in the National Assembly to French citizens resident overseas.

Its primary stated aim, however, was to obtain enough seats to prevent the left from having the 3/5ths Congress majority which would enable it to adopt constitutional reforms (such as granting the right to vote to foreign residents in local elections).

The UMP's task was complicated by the popularity of the far-right National Front, which the polls indicated could obtain enough support to reach the second round in a large number of constituencies, thus splitting the right-wing vote.

(Under French electoral law, in legislative elections, a third party advances to the second round if it obtains the votes of at least 12.5% of registered voters – i.e., including those who abstain.

Chantal Jouanno said she was worried it might be under consideration, leading party leader Jean-François Copé to assure her publicly "there will never be an alliance with the National Front".

[31] Two days before the first round, Alain Juppé called upon party members to resist the "temptation" of local alliances with the far right, arguing on "moral", "pragmatic" and "tactical grounds", highlighting ideological and policy incompatibility and the National Front's stated aim to "break" and replace the UMP.

[41] Pierre Moscovici, Socialist Minister of Finance, stated on 12 June that the UMP had lost its way and its values and no longer knew what it stood for, in response to its position on the National Front.

[44][45] The leaflets of the candidates for the French nationals abroad (Français établis à l'étranger) seats were published online on the website of the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

[50][51] Europe Ecology – The Greens (EELV), part of the government and of the presidential majority, also benefited from an electoral alliance with the Socialists, increasing its number of seats from just 4 to 18.

[50][51] The Left Front, which decided to stand alone after electoral alliance negotiations with the Socialists broke down, lost half its seats (from 19 down to 10), despite a substantial increase in the number of votes its received.

[54] The Union for a Popular Movement (and affiliated miscellaneous right candidates), now the main opposition party, lost 112 seats, and several of its prominent members were defeated.

In particular, 20 of the 41 members of the "Popular Right" (hard right) faction of the party standing for re-election lost their seats – most notably, Eric Raoult and Maryse Joissains-Masini.

The party's membership in the Assembly fell from 3 to 2: Jean Lassalle (re-elected in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques) and Thierry Robert (who gained a seat from the UMP in La Réunion).

Marine Le Pen's lawyer Gilbert Collard, who is not a member of the National Front but was endorsed by it, was also elected, giving the party two seats (for the first time in twenty-four years).

In addition, a former member of the National Front and Movement for France, and now independent far right politician, Jacques Bompard, was elected in a constituency neighbouring Maréchal-Le Pen's, in the Vaucluse.

[59] This was widely seen as a "goodwill gesture" by the Socialist Party, meant to enable the Left Front to pass the 15-member threshold required to form a parliamentary caucus of their own (instead of sitting as "non-aligned" members, which would have resulted in a considerable loss of financial and logistical means).

Specifically, they fared as follows:[67] Other notable national political figures fared as follows:[67][71] Elected or re-elected: Beaten: These constituencies attracted particular media interest, due to the presence of a notable candidate facing for example unexpected difficulties, or on the contrary an unexpectedly easy race, or due to the prospect of a significant and meaningful change in fortune for a party.

[75] The Le Pen-Mélenchon duel attracted international media attention, including for what it revealed of attitudes and expectations in an area of northern France hit hard by deindustrialisation and unemployment.

The Guardian noted that, in that regard, "Mélenchon blames what he sees as pernicious free-market capitalism and bankers; Le Pen points the finger at immigrants and Europe".

Kemel narrowly won the seat (retaining it for the Socialist Party) with 50.1% of the vote, defeating Marine Le Pen.

[83] Attention was also drawn to the Pyrénées-Atlantiques's 2nd constituency, where presidential candidate François Bayrou of the centrist Democratic Movement was hoping to retain his seat.

The Hauts-de-Seine's 9th constituency, traditionally a very safe seat for the right, raised unexpected difficulties for UMP candidate and former Minister of the Interior Claude Guéant.

A dissident member of the UMP, Thierry Solere, contested his legitimacy, stood against him, and reached the second round, precipitating a three-way runoff between two candidates of the right and one of the left.

[94] This constituency drew attention due to the behaviour and situation of UMP candidate Nadine Morano, who had been Minister for Professional Training in François Fillon's government from 2010 to 2012.

She finished second in the first round (34.33%) behind Socialist candidate Dominique Potier (39.29%) and, in the hopes of obtaining more votes in the second, appealed explicitly to the voters of the eliminated National Front, on the grounds of "common values" in what she called a "duel between the right and the left".

She defined her common values with far right voters as including "control over immigration, refusing to give foreigners the right to vote" and "the protection of our borders".

[99] Marie-Arlette Carlotti, junior Minister for the Disabled, stood in this constituency against the UMP incumbent Renaud Muselier, who had held the seat since 1993.

As minister, she would not be able to sit in Parliament; as long as she stays in the government, her seat goes to her running mate, Avi Assouly, locally famous as a former radio football presenter.

[104] In Seine-Saint-Denis's 6th constituency, Nathalie Arthaud (Workers' Struggle) finished sixth with 2.47%, far behind the Socialist incumbent and former Minister for Social Affairs Élisabeth Guigou (46.12%) and the director of l'Humanité, Patrick Le Hyaric, standing for the Left Front (17.33%).