French Fifth Republic

The French Fifth Republic () is France's current republican system of government. It was established on 4 October 1958 by Charles de Gaulle under the Constitution of the Fifth Republic..

The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the Fourth Republic, replacing the former parliamentary republic with a semi-presidential (or dual-executive) system that split powers between a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of government. De Gaulle, who was the first French president elected under the Fifth Republic in December 1958, believed in a strong head of state, which he described as embodying ("the spirit of the nation"). Under the Fifth Republic, the president has the right to dissolve the national assembly and hold new parliamentary elections. If the president has a majority in the national assembly, the president sets domestic policy and the prime minister puts it into practice. During a presidential mandate, the president can also change prime ministers and reshuffle the government. If there is a different majority in the national assembly, the president is forced to nominate a prime minister from a different party, which is called a cohabitation. In the beginning of the Fifth Republic, presidential elections were held every seventh year and parliamentary elections every fifth year. Starting in the year 2002, the presidential elections (in April) and parliamentary elections (in June) were synchronized to be held every fifth year, which ended in the 2024 French snap election.

The Fifth Republic is France's third-longest-lasting political regime, after the hereditary, feudal monarchy of the Ancien Régime and the parliamentary Third Republic (4 September 1870–10 July 1940).

Origins Instability of the Fourth Republic

The Fourth Republic had suffered from a lack of political consensus, a weak executive, and governments forming and falling in quick succession since 1946. With no party or coalition able to sustain a parliamentary majority, prime ministers found themselves unable to risk their political position with unpopular reforms.Philip M. Williams, Crisis and Compromise: Politics in the Fourth Republic (1958)

May 1958 crisis

The trigger for the collapse of the French Fourth Republic was the Algiers crisis of 1958. France was still a colonial power, although conflict and revolt had begun the process of decolonization. French West Africa, French Indochina, and French Algeria still sent representatives to the French parliament under systems of limited suffrage in the French Union. Algeria in particular, despite being the colony with the largest French population, saw rising pressure for separation from Metropolitan France. The situation was complicated by those in Algeria, such as European settlers, native Jews, and Harkis (native Muslims who were loyal to France), who wanted to maintain the union with France. The Algerian War was not just a separatist movement but had elements of a civil war.

Further complications came when a section of the French Army rebelled and openly backed the movement to defeat separation.John E. Talbott, The War Without a Name: France in Algeria, 1954–1962 (1980). Charles de Gaulle, who had retired from politics a decade before, placed himself in the midst of the crisis, calling on the nation to suspend the government and create a new constitutional system. The parliament was unable to choose a government amid popular protest, and De Gaulle was carried to power when the last parliament of the Fourth Republic voted for its own dissolution and the convening of a constitutional convention.Jonathan Fenby, The General: Charles de Gaulle and the France He Saved (2010) pp 375–408.

Transitional period

De Gaulle and his supporters proposed a system of strong presidents elected for seven-year terms. The president, under the proposed constitution, would have executive powers to run the country in consultation with a prime minister whom he would appoint. On 1 June 1958, Charles de Gaulle was appointed head of the government; on 3 June 1958, a constitutional law empowered the new government to draft a new constitution of France, and another law granted Charles de Gaulle and his cabinet the power to rule by decree for up to six months, except on matters of criminal law, electoral law, matters related to the basic rights and freedoms of citizens, and the activities of trade unions.. These plans were approved by more than 80% of those who voted in the referendum of 28 September 1958.Proclamation des résultats des votes émis par le peuple français à l'occasion de sa consultation par voie de référendum, le 28 septembre 1958 The new constitution was signed into law on 4 October 1958. Since each new constitution established a new republic, France moved from the Fourth to the Fifth Republic.

1958 constitution

The new constitution contained transitional clauses (articles 90–92) extending the period of rule by decree until the new institutions were operating. René Coty remained president of the Republic until the new president was proclaimed. On 21 December 1958, Charles de Gaulle was elected president of France by an electoral college. The provisional constitutional commission, acting in lieu of the constitutional council, proclaimed the results of the election on 9 January 1959. The new president began his office on that date, appointing Michel Debré as prime minister.

The 1958 constitution also replaced the French Union with the French Community, which allowed fourteen member territories (excluding Algeria) to assert their independence. 1960 became known as the "Year of Africa" because of this wave of newly independent states.Abayomi Azikiwe, "50th Anniversary of the 'Year of Africa' 1960", Pan-African News Wire, 21 April 2010. Algeria became independent on 5 July 1962.

Evolution

Election of the president

The president initially was elected by an electoral college but in 1962 de Gaulle proposed that the president be directly elected by the citizens and held a referendum on the change. Although the method and intent of de Gaulle in that referendum were contested by most political groups except for the Gaullists, the change was approved by the French electorate.Constitutional Council, Proclamation of the results of the 28 October 1962 referendum on the bill related to the election of the President of the Republic by universal suffrage The Constitutional Council declined to rule on the constitutionality of the referendum.Constitutional Council, Decision 62-20 DC of 6 November 1962

The president is now elected every five years, changed from seven by a constitutional referendum in 2000, to reduce the probability of cohabitation due to former differences in the length of terms for the National Assembly and presidency. The president is elected in one or two rounds of voting: if one candidate gets a majority of votes in the first round that person is president-elect; if no one gets a majority in the first round, the two candidates with the greatest number of votes go to a second round.

Separation of powers

Two major changes occurred in the 1970s regarding constitutional checks and balances. Traditionally, France operated according to parliamentary supremacy: no authority was empowered to rule on whether statutes passed by Parliament respected the constitutional rights of the citizens. In 1971, however, the Constitutional Council, arguing that the preamble of the constitution referenced the rights defined in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the preamble of the 1946 constitution, concluded that statutes must respect these rights and so declared partially unconstitutional a statute because it violated freedom of association.Constitutional Council, Decision 71-44 DC of 16 July 1971

Only the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, or the president of either house of Parliament could ask for a constitutional review a statute was signed into law—which greatly reduces the likelihood of such a review if all these officeholders happened to be from the same side of politics, which was the case at the time. Then in 1974, a constitutional amendment widened this prerogative to 60 members of the National Assembly or 60 members of the senate.. From that date, the opposition has been able to have controversial new statutes examined for constitutionality.Alain Lancelot, La réforme de 1974, avancée libéral ou progrès de la démocratie ?

Presidents of the Fifth Republic

No. President Lived from to Party 1 Charles de Gaulle 1890–1970 8 January 1959 28 April 1969 (resigned)Independent – Alain Poher 1909–1996 28 April 1969 15 June 1969 (interim) CD 2 Georges Pompidou 1911–1974 15 June 1969 2 April 1974 (died in office) UDR – Alain Poher 1909–1996 2 April 1974 19 May 1974 (interim) CD 3Valéry Giscard d'Estaing 1926–2020 19 May 1974 21 May 1981 UDF 4François Mitterrand 1916–1996 21 May 1981 17 May 1995 Socialist 5Jacques Chirac 1932–2019 17 May 1995 16 May 2007 RPR then UMP 6Nicolas Sarkozy b. 1955 16 May 2007 15 May 2012 UMP 7François Hollande b. 1954 15 May 201214 May 2017 Socialist 8Emmanuel Macronb. 197714 May 2017IncumbentREM Source:

President image gallery

Prime Ministers of the Fifth Republic

Name Term start Term end Political party President Michel Debré 8 January 1959 14 April 1962 UNR Charles de Gaulle(1959–1969) Georges Pompidou 14 April 1962 10 July 1968 UNR then UDR Maurice Couve de Murville 10 July 1968 20 June 1969 UDR Jacques Chaban-Delmas 20 June 1969 6 July 1972 UDR Georges Pompidou(1969–1974) Pierre Messmer 6 July 1972 27 May 1974 UDR Jacques Chirac (1st term) 27 May 1974 26 August 1976 UDR Valéry Giscard d'Estaing(1974–1981) Raymond Barre 26 August 1976 21 May 1981 Independent Pierre Mauroy 21 May 1981 17 July 1984 Socialist François Mitterrand(1981–1995) Laurent Fabius 17 July 1984 20 March 1986 Socialist Jacques Chirac (2nd term) 20 March 1986 10 May 1988 RPR Michel Rocard 10 May 1988 15 May 1991 Socialist Édith Cresson 15 May 1991 2 April 1992 Socialist Pierre Bérégovoy 2 April 1992 29 March 1993 Socialist Édouard Balladur 29 March 1993 18 May 1995 RPR Alain Juppé 18 May 1995 3 June 1997 RPR Jacques Chirac(1995–2007) Lionel Jospin 3 June 1997 6 May 2002 Socialist Jean-Pierre Raffarin 6 May 2002 31 May 2005 UMP Dominique de Villepin 31 May 2005 17 May 2007 UMP François Fillon 17 May 2007 15 May 2012 UMPNicolas Sarkozy(2007–2012) Jean-Marc Ayrault 15 May 2012 31 March 2014 SocialistFrançois Hollande(2012–2017) Manuel Valls 31 March 2014 6 December 2016 Socialist Bernard Cazeneuve 6 December 2016 10 May 2017 Socialist Édouard Philippe 15 May 2017 3 July 2020 LR then Independent Emmanuel Macron(since 2017) Jean Castex 3 July 2020 16 May 2022 RE Élisabeth Borne 16 May 2022 9 January 2024 RE Gabriel Attal 9 January 2024 5 September 2024 RE Michel Barnier 5 September 2024 13 December 2024 LR François Bayrou 13 December 2024 9 September 2025 MoDem Sébastien Lecornu 9 September 2025 Incumbent RE Source:

Institutions of the Fifth Republic

Timeline diagram

See also 1958 Guinean constitutional referendum French colonial empire List of French possessions and colonies Politics of France Republican Front (French Fifth Republic) Proposed French Sixth Republic

Notes

References

French Fifth Republic

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