| French Republic
République française
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| Motto: Liberté, égalité, fraternité (Liberty, equality, fraternity) | ||||||
| Anthem: La Marseillaise |
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Territory of the French Republic in the world
(excl. Antarctica where sovereignty is suspended) |
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| Capital | Paris | |||||
| Government | Unitary semi-presidential republic | |||||
| Currency | Euro, CFP Franc | |||||
| ISO 3166 code | FR | |||||
The Fifth Republic is the fifth and current republican constitution of France, introduced on 4 October 1958.[1] The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the French Fourth Republic, replacing the prior parliamentary government with a semi-presidential system. It is France's third-longest-enduring political regime, after the pre-Revolutionary Ancien Régime and the Third Republic.
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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 decolonisation. 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 the Metropole. The situation was complicated by those in Algeria, such as white settlers, who wanted to stay part of France, so the Algerian War became 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 "Algérie française" movement to defeat separation. 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. De Gaulle was carried to power by the inability of the parliament to choose a government, popular protest, and the last parliament of the Fourth Republic voting for their dissolution and the convening of a constitutional convention. Algeria became independent on 5 July 1962.
The Fourth Republic suffered from little political consensus, a weak executive, and governments forming and falling in quick succession since the Second World War. With no party or coalition able to sustain a parliamentary majority, Prime Ministers found themselves unable to risk their political position with unpopular reforms. De Gaulle and his supporters proposed a system of strong executive 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;[2] on 3 June 1958, a constitutional law empowered the new government to draft a new Constitution of France,[1] and another law granted Charles de Gaulle and his cabinet the power to rule by decree for up to 6 months, except on certain matters related to the basic rights of citizens (criminal law, etc.).[3] These plans were approved by 85.14% by 9 million voters to 8 million, with another 8 million abstaining.[4] of those who voted in the referendum of 28 September 1958.[5] The new constitution was signed into law on 4 October 1958.[6] Since each new constitution establishes a new republic, France moved from the Fourth to the Fifth Republic.
The new constitution contained transitional clauses (articles 90–92) extending the period of rule by decree until the new institutions were operating. René Coty stayed 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.[7] 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 president was initially elected by an electoral college, but in 1962 de Gaulle proposed that the president be directly elected by the citizens in a referendum. Although the method and intents of de Gaulle in that referendum were contested by most political groups except for the Gaullists, the change was approved by the French electorate.[8] The Constitutional Council declined to rule on the constitutionality of the referendum.[9]
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 first round is open to all candidates and will establish a president if any candidate gets an overall majority. If there is no winner in the first round, the two candidates with the greatest number of votes go to a second round.
Two major changes occurred in the 1970s regarding constitutional checks and balances.[10] 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.[11] In 1971, 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 declared partially unconstitutional a statute because it violated freedom of association.[12] However, only the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, and the President of each house of Parliament could ask for a constitutional review before a statute was signed into law, which greatly hindered efforts to get such a review if all these personalities happened to be from the same political side, which was the case at the time. In 1974, a constitutional amendment widened this possibility to 60 members of the National Assembly or 60 members of the Senate.[13] From that date, the opposition has been able to have controversial new statutes examined for constitutionality.[14]
Gaullists are in blue, Socialists in pink, centrists in teal.
| President | Lived | from | to | Party |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charles de Gaulle | 1890–1970 | 8 January 1959 | 28 April 1969 (resigned) | UNR then UDR |
| Alain Poher | 1909–1996 | 28 April 1969 | 15 June 1969 (interim) | PDM |
| 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) | PDM |
| Valéry Giscard d'Estaing | 1926– | 19 May 1974 | 21 May 1981 | UDF |
| François Mitterrand | 1916–1996 | 21 May 1981 | 17 May 1995 | Socialist |
| Jacques Chirac | 1932– | 17 May 1995 | 16 May 2007 | RPR then UMP |
| Nicolas Sarkozy | 1955– | 16 May 2007 | Incumbent | UMP |