Overview Of The Fifth Republic

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Overview: (France)
France is a republic; the institutions of governance are defined by the Constitution, more specifically the Fifth Republic. The Fifth Republic was established in 1958 and was formed from the workings of General De Gaulle and Michel Debre. It has since been amended 17 times; although the French constitution is parliamentary, it gave relatively extensive powers to the executive (President and Ministers). The Constitution of the Fifth Republic thus sets up a bicameral system in which two assemblies coexist: a National Assembly which represents the citizens and a Senate which represents the territorial units of the Republic. The French bicameralism is an unequal system as the National Assembly has more responsibility and power than that of the Senate.

National Assembly: (France)

The National Assembly was first formed on June 7, 1789; formed by representatives of the Third Estate. The National Assembly of 1871-75 concluded the Franco-German War and drafted the constitution of 1875. During the Third Republic (1875-1940) became the joint name for the two houses of Parliament; the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. The Fourth and Fifth Republic changed the National Assembly to be the name of the lower house and the upper house was named the Senate.

The National Assembly is the lower house of parliament. Members are known as deputies. 577 Deputies form National Assembly, each of them elected for a five year term by a two-way voting system. The National Assembly symbolically embodies the general will of the French people, its main role is to discuss, amend and vote on bills. The National Assembly has a President who is elected for a five year period. The President makes sure the procedures a...

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...h the National Assembly it cannot be dissolved. This permanence is the main justification for the Constitution of the Fifth Republic. The Senate has been made up of 348 Senators since 2011, who are elected every 6 years. Half the Senate is renewed every 3 years. All candidates for the office of Senator must be, at least, thirty years old. Each department elects between one and 12 Senators. The Senate is elected by an electoral college of roughly 150,000 grand electors.

Executive Branch: (France)
The head of state and head of executive is the President, elected by universal suffrage. The President determines policy with the aid of his Council of Ministers. The President appoints a prime minister who forms a government.

Legislative Branch: (France)
The French Parliament is made up of two chambers; The National Assembly and the Senate.

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