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Eric Millard
Ordinary French doctrine does not deal with issues such as how electoral system and forms of government are connected. Usually, it accepts the so-called Law of Duverger, establishing a mechanical causality between voting system and bi- or multiparty system, assuming that multi-party system does not allow a majority in House, and causing government weakness or instability. This thesis can be criticized on theoretical and empirical grounds; therefore, both concepts must be expanded to connect electoral systems and forms of government. The French Fifth Republic is a peculiar parliamentarian regime, organized by constitution, and which configuration is determined by two political facts: first that there is a homogeneous majority in Parliament, and second that this majority can support the President of the Republic, or be opposed against him. This later derives from the respective results of two elections, both on direct universal suffrage: the elections for the President of the Republic and the ones for the Assemblée Nationale (the first chamber of Parliament). The main point to be considered in the electoral system is related to the way the two elections are organized. The 2000 constitutional amendment reduced the presidential mandate to the same length as the legislative one. Since both elections are called within two months, what counts is the order of these elections. The decision to call the Presidential elections first and the elections for the legislative organ later sets up a connection between electoral system and form of government. The specific parliamentary regime laid down by the Constitution grants a majority in Parliament to support the President�s policies, and installs a personalization of the President's power.
