Rapid Fire
Cohabitation
- 29 Jun 2024
- 1 min read
Recent opinion polls for the French legislative elections suggest the possibility of a cohabitation in the French Parliament.
- Cohabitation is a situation where the President and the Prime Minister (leader of the National Assembly) come from different political parties.
- This occurs when the President's party does not have a majority in the National Assembly, leading to the appointment of a Prime Minister from the opposition party or coalition.
- In this power-sharing arrangement, the President handles foreign policy and defense, while the Prime Minister focuses on domestic policy and day-to-
day governance. - It requires cooperation and compromise between the two leaders to ensure effective governance.
- It has occurred 3 times in the French Fifth Republic since 1958.
- The French Fifth Republic refers to the current republican system of government in France, established by Charles de Gaulle in 1958, replacing the former parliamentary Fourth Republic.
- France is a semi-presidential, double-headed executive, representative parliamentary democracy, with clearly defined roles for the President and the Prime Minister.
