The Constitutional Council in figures

The Constitutional Council issues decisions of very different kinds: it reviews laws before they are enacted (“DC” decisions), rules on priority questions of constitutionality (QPC), settles disputes over National Assembly and Senate elections, oversees the regularity of the presidential election and issues rarer decisions, such as the reclassification of legislative texts. The chart stacks these categories year by year; the yearly total depends heavily on the electoral calendar, because a single election can give rise to several hundred decisions.

The Constitutional Council issued 309 decisions in 2025, including 55 priority questions of constitutionality (QPC), 26 decisions reviewing laws (DC) and 218 election decisions, that is 107% more than in 2024. From 1996 to 2025, the yearly total ranges from 26 decisions in 2006 to 523 in 2018, including 421 election decisions. Over these 30 years, the Council issued 4,928 decisions: 60% are election decisions, 21% are QPC (available since 2010) and 11% are reviews of laws.

• QPC
• Review of laws (DC)
• Elections
• Other

“Other”: reclassification of texts of legislative form, incompatibilities and forfeitures of parliamentary office, referendums, organisational decisions. Number of decisions published per year.

See also France CNIL Competition Authority

Back to contents

The priority question of constitutionality (QPC) lets any party to a trial argue that a statutory provision applicable to the case infringes the rights and freedoms that the Constitution guarantees. The court hearing the case, then the Conseil d'État or the Cour de cassation, checks that the question deserves to be examined before passing it on to the Constitutional Council, which has three months to rule. A provision declared unconstitutional is repealed from the publication of the decision or from a later date set by the Council.

In 2025, the Constitutional Council decided 55 QPC, that is 31% more than in 2024. Since the QPC opened in 2010, 1,055 QPC have been decided, an average of 66 a year; the yearly number ranges from 42 in 2024 to 110 in 2011. Over the whole period, 57% of the QPC were upheld, 22% were partly upheld or upheld with reservations and 21% were struck down. The share of QPC struck down in full is 18% over 2010-2015 and 23% over 2021-2025, that is up 5 points. The median time from referral to decision is 2 months over each period.

• Upheld
• Partly upheld or with reservations
• Struck down
• Other

Shares computed on the QPC with a classified outcome; time counted in whole months between referral and decision. Only the QPC referred to and decided by the Council are counted.

See also Conseil d'État France

Back to contents

Review of laws before enactment (“DC” decisions) takes place on referral by the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the President of the National Assembly, the President of the Senate, or sixty deputies or sixty senators. Organic laws and the rules of procedure of the assemblies must be submitted to it. The Council normally rules within one month. It finds a law constitutional, constitutional subject to an interpretation, or unconstitutional in whole or in part.

In 2025, the Council issued 26 decisions reviewing laws (DC), that is 117% more than in 2024. From 2016 to 2025 it issued 172, an average of 17 a year; the yearly number ranges from 12 in 2022 to 26 in 2025. Of the 300 reviews of laws from 2010 to 2025 with a classified outcome, 33% found the law constitutional, 64% found it partly unconstitutional or constitutional subject to reservations and 2% found it unconstitutional. Over the same period, the share of decisions finding a provision struck down in full or in part, or upheld with reservations, is 66% for reviews of laws and 43% for QPC.

A review of a law may cover several hundred articles, a QPC a single provision: outcomes cannot be compared point by point. Time counted in whole months.

See also France Competition Authority

Back to contents

The Constitutional Council is the judge of the elections of deputies and senators: it rules on petitions challenging the regularity of a vote or the decisions on campaign accounts, and can annul an election or declare a candidate ineligible. For the presidential election, it draws up the list of candidates, oversees the regularity of the operations and proclaims the results. The number of these decisions follows the calendar of elections.

From 2021 to 2025, the Constitutional Council issued 885 election decisions: 799 on National Assembly elections, 61 on Senate elections and 25 on the presidential election. After the 2024 National Assembly elections, it issued 51 decisions in 2024 and 218 in 2025. The total of decisions on the last 5 National Assembly elections, counted in the year of the vote and the year after, ranges from 225 (2007 election) to 527 (2022 election). For the presidential election, it issued 24 decisions in 2022 and 15 in 2017. Senate election decisions follow the renewal of the Senate, which takes place by half every three years: 61 decisions from 2021 to 2025.

• National Assembly
• Senate
• Presidential

See also Conseil d'État Elections

Back to contents

Since its creation by the 1958 Constitution, the role of the Constitutional Council has grown: referral by sixty members of Parliament, opened in 1974, developed the review of laws, and the QPC, created by the constitutional revision of 2008 and available since 2010, allows any litigant to raise a question of constitutionality. The chart and the table group its decisions by decade.

From 1958 to 2025, the Constitutional Council issued 7,327 decisions: 64% are election decisions, 14% are QPC and 13% are reviews of laws. The average number of reviews of laws a year ranges from 3.5 (1960-69) to 19.8 (2010-19). Since 2010, QPC account for 30% of the Council's decisions.

• QPC
• Review of laws (DC)
• Elections
• Other

1958-1959: the years of the Council's creation; the latest period is ongoing. Yearly averages computed over the years of each period.

See also France CNIL Competition Authority

Back to contents