Crisis of the Fifth French Republic

Zečević Slobodan (Institut za evropske studije, Beograd), szecevic5@gmail.com

In the national parliamentary elections in France, held under the two-round majority electoral system, the presidential coalition lost its relative majority. It was clear that there were three opposing blocs in the Assembly, that no one had an absolute majority to be able to form the government independently, and that unprincipled coalitions, characteristic for parliamentary regimes otherwise contrary to the spirit of the Gaullistic Fifth Republic, were needed to get out of the political crisis. In France, there was a debate about the overcoming of the constitutional concept of the Gaullistic Fifth Republic. Since its founding in 1958, the Fifth Republic has been a humanistic experiment. Its founder, General Charles De Gaulle, started from the assumption that only nations are eternal and, therefore, a strong and independent state of the French people should be created, which would have exceptional ambitions in terms of economic development, social and health care, defence, education, science, and art.

Keywords: Constitution, Fifth Republic, presidential system, parliamentary regime, democracy, direct presidential elections, cohabitation