Behind the French Elections

The African problem was principally responsible for the move to advance the date of the French parliamentary elections. The government—with the endorsement of the more intelligent segments of French political opinion-wanted early elections in order to prevent issues as grave as those involved in North Africa from being decided by a Chamber whose members were exclusively concerned with the imminent problem of getting reelected. Impending national elections resulted in legislative determination to sidestep any and all immediately impopular measures—even measures vitally necessary to the national interest. The first effect of M. Faure’s proposal was, for obvious psychological reasons, an intensification of this concern. On what kind of ballot would the new Chamber be chosen? Each party and group, of course, wanted an electoral system which would predictably assure the election of a maximum number of its own members. And dissolution of the Assembly before a new electoral law was voted would mean holding the next election under the same law as the last.

The 1951 election law, known as the law of alliances, is somewhat peculiar. It provides for a one-count majority type of ballot which, with slight differences in detail, was first tried in Italy., In each Department the different parties may, if they choose, combine their lists of candidates, and the single list or pool of lists which receives more than half the votes cast, gets all the seats.

JM

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Jules Monnerot

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The African problem was principally responsible for the move to advance the date of the French parliamentary elections. The government—with the endorsement of the more intelligent segments of French political opinion-wanted early elections in order to prevent issues as grave as those involved in North Africa from being decided by a Chamber whose members were exclusively concerned with the imminent problem of getting reelected. Impending national elections resulted in legislative determination to sidestep any and all immediately impopular measures—even measures vitally necessary to the national interest. The first effect of M. Faure’s proposal was, for obvious psychological reasons, an intensification of this concern. On what kind of ballot would the new Chamber be chosen? Each party and group, of course, wanted an electoral system which would predictably assure the election of a maximum number of its own members. And dissolution of the Assembly before a new electoral law was voted would mean holding the next election under the same law as the last.

The 1951 election law, known as the law of alliances, is somewhat peculiar. It provides for a one-count majority type of ballot which, with slight differences in detail, was first tried in Italy., In each Department the different parties may, if they choose, combine their lists of candidates, and the single list or pool of lists which receives more than half the votes cast, gets all the seats.