Cohabitation (government)

Cohabitation, even cohabitation (in French, "living together ") is a political science term that describes a feature of the political system of the Fifth French Republic. He refers to a situation in which the President ( Président de la République) and the head of government (premier ministre ) belong to opposing political camps and the President so that no outright majority in parliament ( Assemblée nationale ) is available.

Come to the President to be numerous skills, so this limit during the cohabitation on the foreign and security policy. Inside the Head of State is dependent on close cooperation with the government and their supporting parliamentary majority against it.

The Cohabitation is a hallmark of Semipräsidentialismus described by Maurice Duverger.

Cohabitationen in the Fifth French Republic

In the Fifth French Republic, there have been three such stages:

Not as cohabitation refers to the term of President Valéry Giscard d' Estaing, although his two Prime Ministers did not belong to his liberal UDF: Chirac was conservative, Raymond Barre party affiliation.

Multiple a cohabitation was prevented by the resolution of the National Assembly and subsequent elections. For example, after the election of François Mitterrand as president in 1981 and in his re-election in 1988.

Constitutional amendment

Since the shortening of the mandate of the President from seven to five years, the French presidential and legislative elections fall in the same year. Background of this constitutional amendment, which was adopted on September 24, 2000 by a referendum of the population, among other things, future Cohabitationen was to prevent.

However, it could in the case of early dissolution of Parliament or of early presidential election will likely come back to a break-up of terms and a cohabitation.

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