ABSTRACT
From the beginning, the history of French audiovisual political advertising has been marked by distrust and drastic regulation. In 1936, between the two rounds of the legislative elections, the Pathe Company decided to broadcast speeches of the main political parties’ leaders in movie theaters, just after its newsreels. After a presentation of the French political and electoral system, this chapter focuses on the development of research on online political videos. France under the Fifth Republic is a semi-presidential system, with both a president and a prime minister. The presidency is the most powerful position in the French political system. The French Parliament is made up of two houses. The lower and principal house, the National Assembly is elected via a two-round system. The prime minister is always from the political majority in the National Assembly, but the president chooses who from the winning party becomes prime minister.
