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FRENCH POLITICS

""France is a republic, indivisible, secular, democratic and social"

"France is a republic, indivisible, secular, democratic and social" (La France est une république indivisible, laïque, démocratique et sociale) is stated in the constitution of the French Republic. The current Constitution of France was adopted on October 4, 1958 and is known as the Constitution of the Fifth Republic. The First Republic of France was established in 1792, following the French Revolution of 1789, when democratic government replaced the long-reigning monarchy of France. A parliament of some sort has existed in France ever since.

France has a multi-party system in which no one party really has a chance of gaining power alone, so parties must work with each other to form coalition governments. Since the 1980s, France's government has alternated between two rather stable coalitions: one left-wing, centred around the French Socialist Party (with minor members such as the French Communist Party, Les Verts and the Left Radical Party), and the other right-wing, centred around the Union for a Popular Movement (with the minor partner the Democratic Movement).

French politics tend to swing from one side to the other at every election, sometimes it's a moderate swing and every now and then a major swap. The French love politics and they believe that the first thing you must do in a democracy is to vote. Consequently, voter participation is very high (almost 86% in the 2007 presidential election).

The politics of France take place in a framework of a semi-presidential republic with strong democratic traditions. The President of France is head of state and the president-appointed Prime Minister of France is head of government and of a multi-party system. Currently, President Nicolas Sarkozy is President (elected in 2007 for a 5 year term) and he appointed François Fillon as Prime Minister. Sarkozy is from the UMP, a conservative party based on Gaullist ideas.

    The principle political parties in France include:

  • PS - Parti Socialiste (socialist)
  • UMP - Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (neo-Gaullist)
  • MoDem - Mouvement Démocrate (social liberalism)
  • NC (PSLE) – Nouveau Centre (Christian liberalists)
  • VEC - Les Verts (the greens, mainly left wing)
  • FN – Front National (extreme right national front)
  • PCF - Parti Communiste Français (communist party)
  • LCR - Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire (revolutionary communist league)
  • CPNT - Chasse Pêache Nature Traditions, (pro hunting, fishing and traditionalist)

French Government

The French government is divided into various levels, ministries and sections with a simplified hierarchy of the governing power in France being:

The President of France
The French Parliament (Parlement français)
Regional council (conseil regional) – heads 22 régions in France
General council (conseil general) - heads 96 départements in France
Town council - heads about 37,000 communes in France

The Parliament of France, making up the legislative branch, consists of two houses: the National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) and the Senate (Sénat).
• The National Assembly deputies represent local constituencies and are directly elected for 5-year terms. The Assembly is the principal legislative body and has the power to dismiss the cabinet of ministers (gouvernement). Thus the majority in the Assembly determines the choice of government.
• Senators are chosen by the mayors for 6-year terms and half of the seats are submitted to election every 3 years. The Senate's legislative powers are limited; in the event of disagreement between the two chambers, the National Assembly has the final say, except for constitutional laws and lois organiques (laws that are directly provided for by the constitution).

In France, the majority of national politicians are civil servants (often high-ranking); the majority of the cabinet members and a very large number of parliament members graduated from the same prestigious school, École Nationale d'Administration (ENA). It is considered very unusual that the current President did not. Women are heavily under-represented in French political life.

France has the highest number of local authorities in Europe (more than 37,000) and therefore has a very active local political life with more than 500,000 elected officials. Of course, local communities are small and therefore the political system is very centralized with a strong central state but it is the local authority and its city council that are the core of French democracy.

Whether it is a large city or small village, the mayor is always the most important political figure.

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