The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS IN FRANCE: WHAT IS COHABITATION?
AFTER TWO rounds of polling on June 30 and July 7, France will elect a new National Assembly. For the first time in 22 years, there is a real possibility that the President and the Prime Minister, leader of the National Assembly, will not be from the same party.
This phenomenon is called cohabitation, and has only occurred thrice ever since France transitioned into the Fifth Republic.
President vs Prime Minister
France is a semi-presidential, representative parliamentary democracy, with clearly defined roles for the President and the Prime Minister.
The current political regime, called the Fifth Republic, first came into effect in 1958, with the President being directly elected by popular vote since 1962.
The President, elected for a term of five years, serves as the head of the state and Commander of the Armed Forces. She enjoys regulatory power, exercising control of all decisions on matters of foreign policy and defence. Until 2000, the President enjoyed seven-year terms, which was then reduced to five-year terms.
The Prime Minister is the leader of the largest party/coalition in the National Assembly.
The parliament, which she heads, is responsible for all domestic policy decisions. The cabinet is appointed by the President under the Prime Minister’s recommendation.
The Prime Minister herself cannot be dismissed by the President, but her resignation can be requested. The President can be impeached by the Parliament for willfully violating the Constitution or the national laws. This requires a two-thirds majority in both houses of the French Parliament, as well as in a joint session of both Houses.
Cohabitation in France
This system can lead to situations where the French legislature is dominated by a coalition/party opposing the President. In such instances, the President is obliged to appoint a leader from the opposing party as Prime Minister, who enjoys the support of a parliamentary majority.
Cohabitation is very rare in France, and has historically been marred with controversy. There have only been three such instances in the French Fifth Republic: President François Mitterrand of the Socialist Party and Prime Minister Jacques Chirac heading the right-wing RPR/UDF coalition (1986-88); President Mitterrand and Prime Minister Edouard Balladur of the RPR/UDF coalition (199395); and President Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin of the Socialist Party (1997-2002).
Each of these periods was marked by administrative logjam and friction between the executive and the state. President Mitterrand in 1986 had refused to sign ordinances on denationalisation that Chirac’s government had proposed. The move would have ensured the privatisation of over 60 industrial groups, reversing the work done by the previous Socialist government. While this legislation would eventually take the form of a bill and be passed in Parliament, it allowed Mitterand to reiterate his status as a Leftist leader.
A similar outcome appears to be likely following the upcoming elections. All opinion polls project a slim chance of victory for President Emmanuel Macron’s liberal-centrist Renaissance Party-led Ensemble coalition, which trails both the far-right National Rally of Marine le Pen, and the left-wing New Popular Front headed by Jean-luc Mélenchon.
The upcoming polls will elect legislators for 577 seats in the National Assembly, including 13 overseas districts and 11 constituencies that represent French expats abroad. A party needs 289 seats to secure an absolute majority.