There are 577 députés, each elected by a single-member constituency (at least one per department) through a two-round system; thus, 289 seats are required for a majority.

The official seat of the National Assembly is the Palais Bourbon on the Rive Gauche of the Seine in the 7th arrondissement of Paris.

The Assembly also uses other neighbouring buildings, including the Immeuble Chaban-Delmas on the Rue de l'Université, Paris.

In 1997, President Jacques Chirac dissolved the National Assembly due to the lack of popularity of Prime Minister Alain Juppé.

In the case of a president of the Republic and National Assembly from opposing parties, this leads to the situation known as cohabitation; this situation, which has occurred three times (twice under François Mitterrand, once under Jacques Chirac), is likely to be rarer now that terms of the president and Assembly are the same length (5 years since the 2000 referendum) and are elected in the same year.

[3] The second motion of censure was passed on December 4, 2024, with 331 deputies voting against the government of President Emmanuel Macron.

Another week is designated for the Assembly's "control" prerogatives (consisting mainly of oral questions addressed to the Government).

[5] Since 1988, the 577 deputies are elected by direct universal suffrage with a two-round system by constituency, for a five-year mandate, subject to dissolution.

Most were redrawn in 2009 (boundaries officially adopted in 2010, effective in 2012),[7] but this redistribution was controversial,[8] such as the creation of eleven constituencies for French residents overseas without increasing the number of seats.

The organic law of 10 July 1985 established a system of party-list proportional representation within the framework of the département.

[12] A law proposal is a document divided into three distinct parts: a title, an exposé des motifs and a dispositif.

The exposé des motifs describes the arguments in favour of a modification of a given law or new measurements that are proposed.

During the discussion in the commission, or in plenary sessions in the assembly, the Government and Parliament can add, modify or delete articles of the proposal.

[12] Projects of propositions of laws will be examined succinctly by the two chambers of Parliament (National Assembly and Senate) until the text is identical.

After two lectures by the two chambers (or just one if the Government chooses to engage an acceleration of the text adoption, which can happen only in certain conditions) and without any accord, the Prime Minister or the two presidents of the chambers, conjointly with first, can convoke a special commission composed by an equal number of members of Assembly and Senators to reach a compromise and propose a new text.

In that case, the National Assembly can either take back the text elaborated by the special commission or the last one that they voted for – possibly modified by several amendments by the Senate.

A referendum on the previous conditions can also be initiated by a fifth of the membership of Parliament, supported by a tenth of the voters inscribed on the electoral lists.

The officeholder may call for a new legislative deliberation of the law or one of its articles in front of the National Assembly, which cannot be denied.

They also have an office in the assembly, various perquisites in terms of transport and communications, social security, a pension fund and unemployment insurance.

The position of deputy of the National Assembly is incompatible with that of any other elected legislative position (Senator or since 2000, Member of European Parliament) or with some administrative functions (members of the Constitutional Council and senior officials such as prefects, magistrates, or officers who are ineligible for department where they are stationed).

Since the 2017 legislative election, deputies cannot hold an executive position in any local government (municipality, department, region).

To be eligible to be elected to the National Assembly, one must be at least 18 years old,[16] of French citizenship, as well as not subject to a sentence of deprivation of civil rights or to personal bankruptcy.

Under the Bourbon Restoration and July Monarchy, the term National Assembly was not in use for any French government organ.