The Influence Of Congress And Presidential Election System On Semi - Presidential Constitutional Government Operation

This study explores how the parliamentary and presidential electoral systems affect the constitutional operation of semi-presidentialism by analyzing the cases of France. Our analytical framework is built upon the variables “presidential electoral system,” “parliamentary electoral system,” “political party system in the parliament,” “constitutional system(semi-presidentialism)” and “government type.” Within this framework, the political party system in the parliament is produced by the presidential and parliamentary electoral systems. Different political party systems, when combined with semi-presidentialism, will contribute to different government types that demonstrate different political effects. Therefore, the effect of parliamentary and presidential electoral systems on the constitutional operation of semi-presidentialism can be well grasped with this analytical framework. Our approach generated the following findings. Firstly, in France before the president’s term in office was changed to five years in 2002, the presidential and parliamentary electoral systems together formed a multi-party, two-bloc system in the parliament. Secondly, France’s parliamentary electoral system and political party system shaped its constitutional system into premier presidentialism. Thirdly, in France, the combination of the political party system and constitutional system contributed to an alternating model of constitutional operation, and formed an “unified government with coalition cabinet” or “divided government with coalition cabinet”(so called cohabitation).Lastly, after France’s reforms in 2002, Its models of constitutional operation gradually became similar with the other semi-presidentialism countrys, with the president, parliament and cabinet tending to be unified, and the president acting as the major leader. However, owing to the different subtypes of semi-presidentialism adopted by Franc,there is still a great difference between their constitutional operation when the president faces an opposing majority in the parliament.