François Charles Armand Fillon (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃swa fijɔ̃]; born 4 March 1954) is a French lawyer and politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 17 May 2007 to 15 May 2012. He was appointed by President Nicolas Sarkozy on 17 May 2007. As a member of the UMP, Fillon became Jean-Pierre Raffarin's Minister of Labour in 2002 and undertook controversial reforms of the 35-hour working week law and of the French retirement system. He became Minister of National Education in 2004 and proposed the much debated Fillon law on Education. In 2005, he was not included in the new government headed by Dominique de Villepin, but was elected Senator for the Sarthe Département. His role as a political advisor in Nicolas Sarkozy's successful race for President led to his becoming Prime Minister. Fillon resigned upon Sarkozy's defeat to François Hollande in the 2012 presidential elections.

Fillon was born in Le Mans, Sarthe. His father is a civil law notary, while his mother, Anne Fillon, is a celebrated historian and his youngest brother, Dominique, is a talented pianist.

Jean-Marc Ayrault (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃.maʁk e.ʁo] ; born 25 January 1950) is the current Prime Minister of France, having been appointed on 15 May 2012. He has also been the Mayor of Nantes since 1989, and has led the French Socialist Party in the National Assembly since 1997.

Born at Maulévrier in Maine-et-Loire, Jean-Marc Ayrault is the son of Joseph Ayrault of Maulévrier, formerly an agricultural worker who was subsequently employed in a textile factory, and of Georgette Uzenot, a former seamstress who later became a full time housewife.

His early schooling was at the St Joseph catholic primary school at Maulévrier, after which, between 1961 and 1968, he attended the Lycée Colbert, at Cholet. He subsequently studied German at Nantes University. In 1969/70 he spent a term in Würzburg in southern Germany. He graduated with a degree in German in 1971 and in 1972 obtained his graduate teaching diploma. He stayed in the Nantes area for his probationary teaching year which was undertaken at Rezé. Between 1973 and his election to the National Assembly in 1986 he worked as a German language teacher in nearby Saint-Herblain.

Marine Le Pen (French pronunciation: [ma.ʁin lə.pɛn]; born Marion Anne Perrine Le Pen; 5 August 1968) is a lawyer by profession, a French right-wing politician and the president of the Front National (FN), the third-largest political party in France, since 16 January 2011. She is the youngest daughter of the French politician Jean-Marie Le Pen, former president of the FN and currently its honorary chairman.

She joined the FN in 1986, its Executive Committee in 2000 and was a vice-president of the FN for eight years (2003–2011). She currently is an ex-officio member of the FN Executive Office, Executive Committee and Central Committee.

She has been a regional councillor since 1998 (Île-de-France: 2004–2010, Nord-Pas-de-Calais: 1998–2004, 2010–present), a Member of the European Parliament since 2004 (Île-de-France: 2004–2009, North-West France: 2009–present) and was a municipal councillor in Hénin-Beaumont, Pas-de-Calais for three years (2008–2011).

In 2010, she was a candidate for the leadership of the FN set up by Jean-Marie Le Pen on 5 October 1972. She successfully succeeded him during the FN congress in Tours, Indre-et-Loire. On 16 January 2011, she was elected with 67.65% (11,546 votes) as the second president of the Front National.

Marie-Ségolène Royal (pronounced: [seɡɔlɛn ʁwajal] ( listen); born 22 September 1953), known as Ségolène Royal, is a French politician. She is the president of the Poitou-Charentes Regional Council, a former member of the National Assembly, a former government minister, and a prominent member of the French Socialist Party. The first woman in France to be nominated by a major party, she was the Socialist candidate in the 2007 French presidential election but lost to Nicolas Sarkozy on 6 May 2007. In 2008, Royal narrowly lost to Martine Aubry in the Socialist Party's election for First Secretary at the Party's twenty-second national congress. On 30 November 2010, Royal announced her intentions to again seek the PS nomination for President in 2012 but she lost the Socialist Party presidential primary in 2011.

Ségolène Royal was born in the military base of Ouakam, Dakar, French West Africa (now Senegal) on 22 September 1953, the daughter of Hélène Dehaye and Jacques Royal, a former artillery officer and aide to the mayor of Chamagne (Vosges).

François Bayrou (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃swa bajʁu] is a French centrist politician, president of the Democratic Movement, who was a candidate in the 2002, 2007 and 2012 French presidential election.

François Bayrou was born on 25 May 1951, in Bordères, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, a village located between Pau and Lourdes. He is the oldest son of farmers Calixte Bayrou and Emma Sarthou. He first went to secondary school in Pay, then he transferred to Bordeaux.

François Bayrou has six children from his marriage (his wife Élisabeth "Babette" was 19 years old at the time of marriage). The family still lives on the farm in Bayrou's birthplace. Bayrou studied literature at university, and at the age of 23, sat the "agrégation", the highest qualifying level for teachers in senior high schools and universities in France. His father was killed in a tractor accident at that time.

Prior to embarking on his political career, Bayrou taught history in Béarn in the French Pyrenees. He is the author of over a dozen books on politics and history, including one on King Henry IV of France. François Bayrou's hobby is raising horses. A practising Roman Catholic, he is nonetheless a fervent supporter of France's system of laïcité.