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07 Presidential Elections In France
By just (France), Section France
A structural problem in France.
As the presidential election is set for less than a year now in France one can't help thinking "at last!". The french presidential election is by far the most important one especially in periods when the president and his government are from the same party. The presidency is central in France because the 1958 constitution puts it at the center of the relationships between the government, the parliament and the court system. The president has incredibly strong powers, he retains almost all the essential powers of the executive branch and the rest are held by the prime minister who, if he is from the same party as the president, is barely a puppet that the president chooses and dissmisses at his will. The parliament's powers are completely restrained by the executive, this means in practice that although theoretically the government (not the president!) is responsible in front of parliament no one takes that responsability seriously. The prime minister and his government therefore answer to the president and the president is accountable to no-one. All this makes other the elections look of second importance
The whole world knows France has been through a very violent chain of events in recent months (the "no" to the european constitution referendum, the urban violences, the debate on the "cpe"...) All these events involved a violent popular outcry, a heated debate, calls for change and fears of change. Can the next presidential election respond to all this ?
Certainly not. All this unease is simply too enormous, too intense to funnel through such a tiny space as electing an individual who will run the country for five years from then on and who under no circumstances can be driven out. The french system lacks stronger and more regular platforms where the electorate can interviene seriously, having these platforms would surely stabilize the country, it would harmonize a little better the state and its citizens. These breathing spaces for the electorate could take many forms (giving more power to local governments or to the parliament to make their elections more important, ect...) This deficit in democracy makes passions too intense, too violent to be met.
This lack of opportunities to be heard makes french society disfonctionnal and tensions build up untill they get out of control. But Fance is in such a state of unmet electoral demand that it is getting dangerous and all the expectancy should not be focused on the presidential elections. There need to be a little more forums in wich the electorate can let off steam, that way it won't feel like the whole system is about to burst. Advertisement
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07 Presidential Elections In France | 20 comments (20 topical, 0 hidden)
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