Political System of France the Fifth Republic • the Fifth Republic Was
Political System of France The Fifth Republic • The fifth republic was established in 1958, and was largely the work of General de Gaulle - its first president, and Michel Debré his prime minister. It has been amended 17 times. Though the French constitution is parliamentary, it gives relatively extensive powers to the executive (President and Ministers) compared to other western democracies. • A popular referendum approved the constitution of the French Fifth Republic in 1958, greatly strengthening the authority of the presidency and the executive with respect to Parliament. • The constitution does not contain a bill of rights in itself, but its preamble mentions that France should follow the principles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, as well as those of the preamble to the constitution of the Fourth Republic. • This has been judged to imply that the principles laid forth in those texts have constitutional value, and that legislation infringing on those principles should be found unconstitutional if a recourse is filed before the Constitutional Council. The executive branch • The head of state and head of the executive is the President, elected by universal suffrage. • France has a semi-presidential system of government, with both a President and a Prime Minister. • The Prime Minister is responsible to the French Parliament. • A presidential candidate is required to obtain a nationwide majority of non- blank votes at either the first or second round of balloting, which implies that the President is somewhat supported by at least half of the voting population. • The President of France, as head of state and head of the executive, thus carries more power than leaders of most other European countries, where the two functions are separate (for example in the UK, the Monarch and the Prime minister, in Germany the President and the Chancellor.) • Since May 2017, France's president is Emmanuel Macron, who was elected to the post at age 39, the youngest French leader since Napoleon.
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