Bonjour tout le monde!

If you visit the French news site Le Monde, you see that they are closely following our elections here in the US just like any American news sources are. To see their carte des résultats Etat par Etat,¹map of results, state by state click here.

Donc, seeing as there is a atmosphère politique tendue²tense political atmosphere  in the US this week , I wanted to discuss a little bit about the political system in France.

In France, elections are held once every cinq ans³five years, and Election Day is always held le dimanche⁴on Sundays. Their motto is “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité” (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity) which finds its origins in the French Revolution.

France is currently in their ‘Fifth Republic’ which began in 1958. It is a hybrid of a presidential/parliamentary system. The current président de la République française⁵President of the French Republic is Emmanuel Macron. He is the chef de l’État⁶Head of State and the Premier ministre⁷Prime Minister, Jean Castex, is the chef du gouvernement français⁸Head of the government.  

Parliament is made up of the National Assembly (the lower house). The National Assembly is located in the Palais Bourbon with 577 députés elected elected by the people, in general elections (Élections législatives) that take place every five years.

The Senate (the upper house) is located inside the Luxembourg Palace (Palais du Luxembourg). It has more than 300 senators. Senators are elected by other locally elected representatives every five years.

The President in France serves a 5-year term (le quinquennat). The maximum number of terms a president can serve is limited to two. The president is the commander of the military and also determines policy with the aid of his Council of Ministers (Conseil des ministres). The residence of the President of the French Republic is the Elysée Palace (le palais de l’Elysée) in Paris.

The President is the one who appoints the Premier ministre. The Prime Minister is the one who directs the actions of the government and ensures the implementation of laws. The residence of the French Prime Minister is at Matignon House (l’Hôtel Matignon) in Paris.

De façon intéressante⁹Interestingly, Emmanuel Macron, having been elected at the age of 39, is the youngest leader in France since Napoleon Bonaparte. Bonaparte was a very successful military leader during the French Revolution, and then Empereur des Français¹⁰French Emperor.

Photo from Pixabay, CCO.

Connaissez-vous la politique française? Are you familiar with French politics? Faites-moi savoir dans les commentaires. Let me know in the comments!

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  map of results, state by state
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