French electoral system - Le système électoral
French electoral system
France became a republic in 1792, right after the 1789 revolution. It has gone through several makeovers and is now under the Fifth Republic. The Fifth Republic started in 1958 with the Général de Gaulle.
In order to be a candidate, a politician needs to have the endorsement of 500 senators, deputies, or mayors. In order to be elected, a president needs to have the majority of the votes.
The president
The president is elected by the people in a two-round ballot. He is in power for 5 years. This five-year period is called a quinquennat. S/he can be reelected only one time. The president’s official residency is le Palais de l’Élysée, right in the center of Paris.
The current French president is Nicolas Sarkozy[1]. He was elected in May 2007. He is the sixth president of the Fifth Republic. He was the chief of the RPR - Rassemblement pour la République, and the UMP – Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, two right-wing political parties. He won against Ségolène Royal, of PS - the socialist party.
The prime minister
The French prime minister is appointed by the president. S/he directs the government’s operations (weekly Wednesday meetings) and answers parliament’s questions. The current prime minister is François Fillon.
The French Parliament
The parliament is bicameral. The two chambers are the Sénat and the Assemblée Nationale, aka chamber of deputies. Both chambers review the legislation. The assemblée nationale has 577 deputies elected by the people and representing both their region and their political party. They meet in the Palais Bourbon, in Paris. The 331 senators convene in the Palais du Luxembourg, next to the Latin Quarter. They are elected through indirect ballot for six years.
[1] Sarkozy became very popular when he rescued 21 children hostages of a suicide bomber in 1993. He got divorced right after his election, and is now married to Carla Bruni, a popular ex-super model and singer. They had a baby girl named Giulia together in October 2011.
Related: Voting vocabulary .
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