Two-Round Systems
How the French-style runoff system works, why it was designed to prevent extremist victories, and its global variations.
The Runoff Logic
In a two-round system (TRS), if no candidate wins an outright majority in the first round, a second round is held between the top candidates. The most common version is the French presidential model: all candidates compete in the first round, and the top two advance to a runoff. The system ensures that the eventual winner has the support of a majority of voters who participate in the second round.
France uses a different variant for legislative elections: any candidate who receives more than 12.5 percent of registered voters' support in the first round advances to the second round, which can mean three or even four candidates in the runoff. This creates different strategic dynamics than the presidential two-candidate runoff.
