French Republic: the basics
• Population: 66 million • Constitutional republic • Unitary state• Semi-presidential system
(President and a Prime Minister)
• First Past the Post (FPTP) electoral system with “Two-round” process
• Bicameral Legislature: National Assembly and Senate
5 Republics & 2 Empires
• First Republic was ended (1803) by Napoleon’s First Empire
• Second Republic was ended (1851) by Napoleon III’s Second Empire
• Third Republic was ended (1940) by German occupation
• Fourth Republic (1946 - 1958)
• Fifth Republic (1958-Present)
President of the Fifth Republic
• directly elected by voters (since 1962)
• renewable term of 5 years (since 2000)
President’s power
• Head of state
• appoints prime minister
• appoint ministers
• Can dissolve the National Assembly
• submit legislation to a referendum
• emergency power (up to 6 months)• Commander-in-chief of the armed forces
The Prime Minister
• Is subordinate to the President except in those circumstances when the prime minister comes from a different party
• Under co-habitation, the powers of both leaders are equal
• Prime Minister is responsible for domestic affairs while President is commander in chief and deals with foreign affairs
• Prime Minister has same power as prime ministers in a parliamentary system (chooses cabinet), but needs to have support of the lower assembly and the President
Presidential elections
• elected by absolute majority of votes– no presidential candidate has obtained the
absolute majority on the first ballot
• if no candidate wins majority in first ballot– the top two candidates stand for election in a
second runoff ballot
• impact on voter turnout (80% turnout in 2012 compared to 58% in 2012 U.S. election)
President & Prime Minister
• President appoints and chooses prime minister and other ministers
• President chairs the Council of Ministers
• Prime minister has to harness parliamentary majority for presidential policies
Example of the Two-round system
French Presidential Election 2002
Round 1:Jacques Chirac: 19.88%Jean-Marie Le Pen: 16.86%Lionel Jospin: 16.18%Round 2:Jacques Chirac: 82.12%Jean-Marie Le Pen: 17.82%
Jean-Marie Le Pen
President & Prime Minister
• When president and the prime minister are from the same political party, the prime minister is subordinate to president
• Cohabitation– president and prime minister
from different political parties
– 1986 - 1988, 1993 - 1995, 1997 - 2002
Legislature
• Power of parliament was restricted by the 1958 Constitution of the Fifth Republic
• Two houses (bicameral)– National Assembly
• 577 members
– Senate• 348 members
Parliament
• incompatibility clause– members of parliament
have to give up their seats once appointed to a cabinet
• bloc (blocked) vote– National Assembly have to
vote either for or against the government’s draft as a whole
– cannot offer any amendments to the bill
L’assemble Nationale
Senate
• Senators are indirectly elected by an electoral college– less than 150,000 people
select senators– municipal, departmental, and
regional council members– rural constituencies are over-
represented
• Senate can initiate legislation
Senate
• Senate must consider all bills adopted by the National Assembly
• if the two houses disagree– government can appoint a joint committee to
try to resolve the differences– government can re-submit the bill to the
National Assembly for a definitive vote
National Assembly elections
• Single-member district– 577 districts
• two-ballot system– if no candidate wins a majority, a second ballot is held
one week later– any candidate winning at least 12.5% of the vote on
the first ballot can run on the second– incentives for parties to develop electoral alliances– French presidential election, 2012 - Wikipedia, the fre
e encyclopedia
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