French Parliamentary Elections: a look under the hood | 59 comments (59 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Some remarks (none / 0)

It must be emphasised that the referendum text did not specify the order of the presidential and parliamentary elections. The question was solely on aligning them on five-year terms.

However, since Parliamentary elections can be called ahead of time, a new president could always dissolve the parliament and call new elections. Under the old 5-7 system, ther was no way to avoid 2 years of cohabitation at the end of a president's term if the elections coincided at the start and the voters soured towards the president at the end of his mandate.

guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue May 8th, 2012 at 06:02:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Some remarks (none / 0)

And if called sufficiently ahead of time so that it preceded the presidential election, would the parliamentary election then remain ahead of the presidential election on the length of the terms?

It seems that if there is a coalition majority this time, the minor party partners could engineer a reversal at the end of the current Presidential term.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Tue May 8th, 2012 at 06:59:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Some remarks (4.00 / 2)

The president can always dissolve parliament, except during the year following the last parliamentary election.

Better would be a modification of the electoral system to introduce a proportional element...

This is in Hollande's program : 100 seats (out of 577) to be elected with PR. He hasn't specified, as far as I know, what sort of PR... the best would be a MMP system as in Germany or NZ, where list seats compensate the district seats, to ensure overall proportionality. However, 100 out of 577 would be inadequate for this, they would all go to the minor parties, and still leave them under-represented). More likely, he is talking about an integrally proportional list for the 100, which is of limited interest : a bastardization which could produce perverse effects.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Tue May 8th, 2012 at 07:15:11 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Some remarks (none / 0)

The single seat districts should still be elected with second preference voting, eliminating from the party with the least votes to the most votes until the threshold in the first round, and until 50% or the last party standing in the second round.

100 seats on MMP would still be a substantial change in the representation of third parties. Why is that in the PS interest? Is it to see FN members elected and introduce discord in possible parliamentary center-right coalitions?

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Tue May 8th, 2012 at 07:26:27 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Some remarks (4.00 / 4)

Insofar as it's sincere, it's a concession to the minor parties of the left, particularly EELV (though the FDG would be a big beneficiary in the current configuration). Parliamentary representation of the FN would be considered as the price to pay (perhaps with the compensation of posing problems to the mainstream right).

But experience suggest that it will come to nothing; the "menace" of representation for the FN will be put forward as an excuse, but collusion with the UMP in order to maintain the current bipolar parliamentary model will be the underlying reason.

OK, I want to believe in Hollande's sincerity. But I believed in Jospin's sincerity, so that's not frankly a good indicator.

(I feel the need for a diary about the disastrous effects of "great man syndrome".)

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Tue May 8th, 2012 at 07:52:24 AM EST
[ Parent ]

French Parliamentary Elections: a look under the hood | 59 comments (59 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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