The New World Order

[Memammal]

^ But then in France coalitions have become the norm, not so? So it is possible for one of the major conservative parties (most likely Les Républicains?) to end up with the socialists in their ranks.

[geordief]

I don't want to give wrong information. I am fairly sure there are 4- yearly Presidential elections which are followed 2 years later by legislative elections.

 

The question of the President "co-habiting" with a politician from a different party can arise when these legislative elections are held to elect the National Assembly and the cards in the pack are reshuffled as it were.. so that the President may have to appoint a new Prime Minister from the ranks of the new Majority in Parliament.

 

Perhaps someone more knowledgeable will correct me .

 

At the moment Fillon looks a comfortably more likely outcome than Le Pen.(National Front)

[CharonY]

IIRC the president is elected for 5 years (and is more powerful than many European presidents) just as the National Assembly. The Senate is elected for 6 years. The National assembly is currently dominated by the Socialists but I am not sure how polling has shifted recently.

 

The next election that could be an indicator of current affairs is probably the Presidential election in Austria, which is between a former Green party member (Van der Bellen) and a right-populist (Hofer), which is a repeat-election as the previous voting was annulled due to procedural errors..

Edited November 30, 2016 by CharonY

[CharonY]

So the initial results for the Austrian presidential election are in and the far-right candidate Hofer has conceded defeat, despite that polls predicted a much closer race.