President of France

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President of
the French Republic

National Emblem of the French Republic
Incumbent:
Nicolas Sarkozy
Inaugural Charles Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte
Formation December 20, 1848
Website www.elysee.fr
France

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This article is about the political and administrative structures of the French government. For French political parties and tendencies, see Politics of France.

The President of the French Republic (French: Président de la République française) colloquially referred to in English as the President of France, is France's elected Head of State.

Four of France's five republics have had presidents as their heads of state, making the French presidency the oldest presidency in Europe still to exist in some form. In each of the republics' constitutions, the president's powers, functions and duties, and their relation with French governments differed.

For details about the French system of government see Government of France.

The president of France is also the ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, Grand Master of the Légion d'honneur and the Ordre national du Mérite and honorary canon of the St. John Lateran Basilica.

The current President of the Republic is Nicolas Sarkozy, from 16 May 2007.

See also: List of Presidents of the French Republic

Contents

[edit] Current presidential powers

The French Fifth Republic is a semi-presidential system. Unlike many other European presidents, the office of the French President is quite powerful. Although it is the Prime Minister of France and parliament that oversee much of the nation's actual lawmaking, the French President wields significant influence. The president holds the nation's most senior office, and outranks all other politicians.

[edit] Summary

The president's greatest power is his or her ability to choose the Prime Minister. However, since only the French National Assembly has the power to dismiss the Prime Minister's government, the president is forced to name a prime minister that commands the support of the majority of this assembly.

  • When the majority of the Assembly has opposite political views to that of the president, this leads to political cohabitation. In that case, the president's power is diminished, since much of the de facto power relies on a supportive prime minister and National Assembly, and is not directly attributed to the post of president.
  • When the majority of the Assembly sides with him, the President can take a more active role and may, in effect, direct government policy. The prime minister is then often a mere "fuse" — an easily replaced figurehead that can be removed if the administration becomes unpopular.

Since 2002, the mandate of the president and the Assembly are both 5 years and the two elections are close to each other. Therefore, the likelihood of a "cohabitation" is lower.

Among the powers of the president:

  • The president promulgates laws.
    • The president has a very limited form of suspensive veto: when presented with a law, he or she can request another reading of it by Parliament, but only once per law.
    • The president may also refer the law for review to the Constitutional Council prior to promulgation.
  • The president may dissolve the French National Assembly
  • The president may refer treaties or certain types of laws to popular referendum, within certain conditions, among them the agreement of the Prime minister or the parliament.
  • The president is the Commander-in-Chief (CINC) of the armies.
  • The president may order the use of nuclear weapons.
  • The president names the Prime minister but he cannot dismiss him. He names and dismisses the other ministers, with the agreement of the Prime minister.
  • The president names most officials (with the assent of the cabinet).
  • The president names certain members of the Constitutional Council.
  • The president receives foreign ambassadors.
  • The president may grant a pardon (but not an amnesty) to convicted criminals; the president can also lessen or suppress criminal sentences. This was of crucial importance when France still operated the death penalty: criminals sentenced to death would generally request that the president commute their sentence to life imprisonment.

All decisions of the president must be countersigned by the Prime minister, except dissolving the French National Assembly.

[edit] Detailed constitutional powers

The constitutional attributions of the president are defined in Title II of the Constitution of France.

Article 5 The President of the Republic shall see that the Constitution is observed. He shall ensure, by his arbitration, the proper functioning of the public authorities and the continuity of the State. He shall be the guarantor of national independence, territorial integrity and observance of treaties.

Article 8 The President of the Republic shall appoint the Prime Minister. He shall terminate the appointment of the Prime Minister when the latter tenders the resignation of the Government. On the proposal of the Prime Minister, he shall appoint the other members of the Government and terminate their appointments.

Article 9 The President of the Republic shall preside over the Council of Ministers.

Article 10 The President of the Republic shall promulgate Acts of Parliament within fifteen days following the final adoption of an Act and its transmission to the Government. He may, before the expiry of this time limit, ask Parliament to reconsider the Act or sections of the Act. Reconsideration shall not be refused.

While the president has to sign all acts adopted by parliament into law, he cannot refuse to do so and exercise a kind of right of veto; his only power in that matter is to ask for a single reconsideration of the law by parliament and this power is subject to countersigning by the Prime minister.

Article 11 [the president may submit laws to the citizens in a referendum]

Article 12 The President of the Republic may, after consulting the Prime Minister and the Presidents of the assemblies, declare the National Assembly dissolved. A general election shall take place not less than twenty days and not more than forty days after the dissolution. The National Assembly shall convene as of right on the second Thursday following its election. Should it so convene outside the period prescribed for the ordinary session, a session shall be called by right for a fifteen-day period. No further dissolution shall take place within a year following this election.

Article 13 The President of the Republic shall sign the ordinances and decrees deliberated upon in the Council of Ministers. He shall make appointments to the civil and military posts of the State. [...]

Article 14 The President of the Republic shall accredit ambassadors and envoys extraordinary to foreign powers ; foreign ambassadors and envoys extraordinary shall be accredited to him.

Article 15 The President of the Republic shall be commander-in-chief of the armed forces. He shall preside over the higher national defence councils and committees.

Article 16 Where the institutions of the Republic, the independence of the Nation, the integrity of its territory or the fulfilment of its international commitments are under serious and immediate threat, and where the proper functioning of the constitutional public authorities is interrupted, the President of the Republic shall take the measures required by these circumstances, after formally consulting the Prime Minister, the Presidents of the assemblies and the Constitutional Council. He shall inform the Nation of these measures in a message. The measures must stem from the desire to provide the constitutional public authorities, in the shortest possible time, with the means to carry out their duties. The Constitutional Council shall be consulted with regard to such measures. Parliament shall convene as of right. The National Assembly shall not be dissolved during the exercise of the emergency powers.

Article 16, allowing the president a limited form of rule by decree for a limited period of time in exceptional circumstance, has been used only once, by Charles de Gaulle during the Algerian War, from April 23 to September 29, 1961.

Article 17 The President of the Republic has the right to grant pardon.

Article 18 The President of the Republic shall communicate with the two assemblies of Parliament by means of messages, which he shall cause to be read and which shall not be the occasion for any debate. Outside sessions, Parliament shall be convened especially for this purpose.

Since 1875, the President is prohibited from entering the houses of Parliament.

Article 19 Acts of the President of the Republic, other than those provided for under articles 8 (first paragraph), 11, 12, 16, 18, 54, 56 and 61, shall be countersigned by the Prime Minister and, where required, by the appropriate ministers.

[edit] Presidential amnesties

There is a tradition of so-called "presidential amnesties", which are something of a misnomer: after the election of a president, and of a National Assembly of the same party, parliament traditionally votes a law granting amnesty for some petty crimes. This practice has been increasingly criticized, particularly because it is believed to incite people to commit traffic offences in the months preceding the election. Such an amnesty law may also authorize the president to designate individuals who have committed certain categories of crimes to be offered amnesty, if certain conditions are met. Such individual measures have been criticized for the political patronage that they allow. Still, it is argued that such amnesty laws help reduce prison overpopulation. An amnesty law was passed in 2002; none have yet been passed as of January 2008.

The difference between an amnesty and a presidential pardon is that the former clears all subsequent effects of the sentencing, as though the crime had not been committed, while pardon simply relieves the sentenced individual from part or all of the remaining of the sentence.

[edit] Election

Further information: Elections in France

Since a 2000 referendum, the President of France has been directly elected to a five-year term by universal suffrage. (Prior to 2000, presidential terms lasted seven years, and the first election to a shorter term was held in 2002.) President Chirac was first elected in 1995 and again in 2002. There is no term limit, so Chirac could have run again, but chose not to. He was succeeded by Nicolas Sarkozy on 2007 May 16. A term limit is due to be introduced by a constitutional reform planned to be passed on 7 July 2008, which would limit politicians to at most two presidential terms.[1]

François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac are the only Presidents to date who have served a full two terms (14 years for the former, 12 years for the latter).

In order to be admitted as an official candidate, potential candidates must receive signed presentations (informally known as parrainages, for "godfathering") from more than 500 elected officials, mostly mayors. These officials must be from at least 30 départements or overseas collectivities, and no more than 10% of them should be from the same département or collectivity.[2] Furthermore, one official may only present no more than one candidate.[3]

There are approximately 45 000 elected officials that are on the list of such officials, including around 36 000 mayors.

Spending and financing of campaigns and political parties are highly regulated. There is a cap on spending, at approximately 20 million euros, and government public financing of 50% of spending if the candidate scores more than 5%. If the candidate receives less than 5% of the vote, the government funds €800,000 to the party (€150,000 paid in advance) [4]Advertising on TV is forbidden but official time is given to candidates on public TV. An independent agency regulates election and party financing.

French presidential elections are conducted via run-off voting which ensures that the elected President always obtains a majority: if no candidate receives a majority of votes in the first round of voting, the two highest-scoring candidates arrive at a run-off. After the president is elected, he goes through a solemn investiture ceremony called a "passation des pouvoirs" ("handing over of powers") [1].

[edit] Succession

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Upon the death or resignation of the President, the President of the Senate acts as interim president. Alain Poher is the only person to have served this temporary position. The first time was in 1969 after Charles de Gaulle's resignation and a second time in 1974 after Georges Pompidou's death. It is important to note that, in this situation, the President of the Senate became an Interim President of the Republic; they do not become the new President of the Republic as elected and therefore do not have to resign from their position as President of the Senate. In spite of his title as Interim President of the Republic, Poher is regarded in France as a former President and is listed in the presidents' gallery on elysee.fr (the President's official site). This is in contrast to acting presidents from the Third Republic.

The first round of a new presidential election must be organized no sooner than twenty days and no later than thirty-five days following the vacancy of the presidency. Because fifteen days can separate the first and second rounds of a presidential election, this means that the President of the Senate can only act as President of the Republic for a maximum period of fifty days. During this period of Interim president is not allowed to dismiss the national assembly nor are they allowed to call for a referendum or initiate any constitutional changes.

If there is no acting president of the senate, the powers of the president of the republic are exercised by the "Gouvernement", meaning the Cabinet. This has been interpreted by some constitutional academics as meaning first the Prime Minister and, if he is himself not able to act, the members of the cabinet in the order of the list of the decree that nominated them. This is in fact unlikely to happen, because if the president of the Senate is not able to act, the Senate will normally name a new president of the Senate, that will act as President of the Republic.

During Third French Republic the Prime Minister acted as President whenever office was vacant.

[edit] Official residences

The official residence and office of the president is the Élysée Palace in Paris. Other presidential residences include:

  • the Fort de Bregançon, in southeastern France, is the current official presidential vacationing residence;
  • the Hôtel de Marigny; standing next to the Élysée Palace, it houses foreign official guests;
  • the Château de Rambouillet is normally open to visitors when not used for (rare) official meetings;
  • the Domaine National de Marly is normally open to visitors when not used for (rare) official meetings;
  • the Domaine de Souzy-la-Briche, not a historical monument, is a private residence.
  • His salary is € 19 331 by month.

[edit] Latest election

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 22 April and 6 May 2007 French presidential election results
Candidates – Parties 1st round 2nd round
Votes % Votes %
Nicolas Sarkozy Union for a Popular Movement (Union pour un mouvement populaire) 11,448,663 31.18% 18,983,138 53.06%
Ségolène Royal Socialist Party (Parti socialiste) 9,500,112 25.87% 16,790,440 46.94%
François Bayrou Union for French Democracy (Union pour la démocratie française) 6,820,119 18.57%  
Jean-Marie Le Pen National Front (Front national) 3,834,530 10.44%
Olivier Besancenot Revolutionary Communist League (Ligue communiste révolutionnaire) 1,498,581 4.08%
Philippe de Villiers Movement for France (Mouvement pour la France) 818,407 2.23%
Marie-George Buffet French Communist Party (Parti communiste français) 707,268 1.93%
Dominique Voynet The Greens (Les Verts) 576,666 1.57%
Arlette Laguiller Workers' Struggle (Lutte ouvrière) 487,857 1.33%
José Bové Alter-globalization activist 483,008 1.32%
Frédéric Nihous Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Tradition (Chasse, pêche, nature, traditions) 420,645 1.15%
Gérard Schivardi Workers' Party (Parti des travailleurs) 123,540 0.34%
Total 36,719,396 100% 35,773,578 100%
 
Votes cast 36,719,396 98.56% 35,773,578 95.80%
Spoilt and null votes 534,846 1.44% 1,568,426 4.20%
Voters 37,254,242 83.77% 37,342,004 83.97%
Abstentions 7,218,592 16.23% 7,130,729 16.03%
Registered voters 44,472,834 44,472,733
Table of results - ordered by number of votes received in first round, official results by Constitutional Council. List of candidates source: Decision of March 19, 2007 by the Constitutional Council.

First round results source: Official first round results announced on April 25, 2007.
Second round results source: Official second round results announced on May 10, 2007.

[edit] Former Presidents

As of 2008 there were two living former Presidents:

According to French law, Former Presidents have guaranteed lifetime pension, security detail[citation needed] and, according to the French Constitution (Article 56), membership on the Constitutional Council.

[edit] First Ladies

[edit] Age upon entering office

  1. Vincent Auriol, 63
  2. Rene Coty, 71
  3. Charles de Gaulle, 68
  4. Georges Pompidou, 57
  5. Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, 48
  6. François Mitterrand, 64
  7. Jacques Chirac, 62
  8. Nicolas Sarkozy, 52

[edit] Presidents time in office

[edit] Longest served (twice elected)

  1. François Mitterrand: 14 years (two full seven-year terms, longest serving President in history)
  2. Jacques Chirac: 12 years (two full terms, but second five-years, not seven as first)
  3. Charles de Gaulle: 10 years (resigned in middle of second term)
  4. Jules Grévy: 8 years (elected twice, but resigned early during second)
  5. Albert Lebrun: 8 years (elected twice, but deposed in early second term by new Vichy Regime)

[edit] Served one full term (seven years)

  1. Emile Loubet
  2. Armand Fallières
  3. Raymond Poincaré
  4. Gaston Doumergue
  5. Vincent Auriol
  6. Valéry Giscard d'Estaing

[edit] Served less than one full term

  1. Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (became an Emperor 1852)
  2. Adolphe Thiers (resigned 1873)
  3. Patrice de Mac-Mahon, duc de Magenta (resigned 1879)
  4. Sadi Carnot (assassinated by Italian anarchist named Sante Jeronimo Caserio 1894)
  5. Jean Casimir-Perier (resigned 1895)
  6. Félix Faure (died in office 1899)
  7. Paul Deschanel (resigned 1920)
  8. Alexandre Millerand (resigned 1924)
  9. Paul Doumer (assassinated by Russian immigrant 1932)
  10. René Coty (term shortened because of constitution change and call for new election)
  11. Georges Pompidou (died in office 1974)

[edit] Interim President

  1. Alain Poher (served nearly two months in 1969 and about one month in 1974)

[edit] Non-Presidential Heads of State

  1. Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure, Chairman of the Provisional Government and de facto head of state in 1848 : served less than three months
  2. Executive Commission : joint head of state with five co-presidents in 1848 : served less than two months. François Arago was its most prominent member.
  3. Louis-Eugène Cavaignac, head of government and de facto head of state in 1848 : served about six months
  4. Louis Jules Trochu, President of the Government of National Defense and de facto head of state (served 4 months, September 1870 to January 1871)
  5. Philippe Pétain, Chief of State of Vichy France: served four years
  6. Charles de Gaulle, President of the Provisional Government: served over one and a half years
  7. Félix Gouin, President of the Provisional Government: served five months
  8. Georges Bidault, President of the Provisional Government: served five months
  9. Vincent Auriol, President of the Provisional Government: served less than a month
  10. Léon Blum, President of the Provisional Government: served one month

[edit] History

Under the Third and Fourth Republic, which were parliamentary systems, the office of President of the Republic was a largely ceremonial and powerless one.

The constitution of the Fifth Republic greatly increased the President's powers. A 1962 referendum changed the constitution, so that the President would be directly elected by universal suffrage and not by the parliament.

In 2000, a referendum shortened the presidential term from seven years to five years.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ French cabinet gives go-ahead on changes to Constitution - International Herald Tribune
  2. ^ Law 62-1292 of November 6, 1962, article 4
  3. ^ Decree 2001-213 of November 8, 2001, article 6
  4. ^ Dépenses de campagne: énorme ardoise pour LO, la LCR s'en tire sans déficit, Metro France, 24 April 2007 (French)

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