French voters returned to the polls on Sunday, July 7, to elect a new Assemblée Nationale and determine who will be in a position to govern France. See how many seats each party won and the district-by-district map.
I’m trying to figure out, as an American…. This means the left has control/will control parliament right? (I assume it’s going to come down to building a larger
Coalition rather than outright control,)
As an American, maybe you know, but I should explain just in case: This is called a minority government, and it’s standard in many democracies around the world. Multiple parties will have to work together, and form a majority that can build a government. Or fail, triggering another election.
In this case, NFP will be looking around for people - independents and parties that are a part of Macron’s coalition - who would support them in exchange for goodies, like specific policies or being put in cabinet.
Yeah, and more than once I’ve had someone think “minority government” must just refer to a dictatorship. To be completely fair it is unintuitive that a minority government always holds a majority. So, I just cleared it up right off the bat.
Two party does indeed suck. We have a somewhat less aggressive version in Canada. IMO the whole world should move towards the Norwegian system, with simple proportional rep and fixed terms to stave off snap elections.
I like the French system. Each constituency is represented by one person who got a majority. In the UK you also get your own representative, but they could win with 20% of the vote if everyone else has less (First Past The Post)…so in the french system you have two rounds to make sure that a majority of people don’t end up represented by someone they despise.
Proportional representation usually does not give you a representative, you have very little idea who your vote is electing after the first and second candidates…which is annoying when you look down the list and see these interloper nobodies who end up being someone’s cousin that nobody’s ever heard of and has never been seen in public.
Yeah, but the thing is, even politicians that seem nice are actually just good at their job, which is to seem nice and get your vote. Some also are interested in policy, but it’s optional.
As a person who works with politicians sometimes, they’re salespeople, and they’re a necessary evil (even ones that are personally okay). A system which de-emphasises them is a feature IMO, and party list does that very well, on top of just being dead simple.
That is fine, MPs surround themselves with influent unmarketable secretaries and advisors they need e.g. Dominic Cummings, but the elected officials need to be the face of the team. That is usually how ministers do not need to be experts in a subject, it is their deputies who do the actual technical work and usually never get elected, that is not their job, but sometimes they actually will.
It probably means the prime minister will be a more moderate figure from the left that can work with centrists. They’ll horsetrade with the centrists over cabinet positions and policy priorities. You could imagine a deal where Macronists get foreign affairs posts (like Minister for Armed Forces and Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs) and the left gets domestic ones (like Minister of Labor, Minister for Health, etc.)
In reality, that’s way simpler than it likely will be. Realistically, given France’s history, it probably means some gridlock and grandstanding. Every Prime Minister wants to be president next so there’s probably going to be some positioning for the next presidential election (in 2027) involved. Maybe they’ll get along for a year and then have new elections.
I’m trying to figure out, as an American…. This means the left has control/will control parliament right? (I assume it’s going to come down to building a larger Coalition rather than outright control,)
Either way it makes me somewhat hopeful.
As an American, maybe you know, but I should explain just in case: This is called a minority government, and it’s standard in many democracies around the world. Multiple parties will have to work together, and form a majority that can build a government. Or fail, triggering another election.
In this case, NFP will be looking around for people - independents and parties that are a part of Macron’s coalition - who would support them in exchange for goodies, like specific policies or being put in cabinet.
The concept of different parties working together confuses the modern American
Yeah, and more than once I’ve had someone think “minority government” must just refer to a dictatorship. To be completely fair it is unintuitive that a minority government always holds a majority. So, I just cleared it up right off the bat.
Two party does indeed suck. We have a somewhat less aggressive version in Canada. IMO the whole world should move towards the Norwegian system, with simple proportional rep and fixed terms to stave off snap elections.
I like the French system. Each constituency is represented by one person who got a majority. In the UK you also get your own representative, but they could win with 20% of the vote if everyone else has less (First Past The Post)…so in the french system you have two rounds to make sure that a majority of people don’t end up represented by someone they despise.
Proportional representation usually does not give you a representative, you have very little idea who your vote is electing after the first and second candidates…which is annoying when you look down the list and see these interloper nobodies who end up being someone’s cousin that nobody’s ever heard of and has never been seen in public.
Yeah, but the thing is, even politicians that seem nice are actually just good at their job, which is to seem nice and get your vote. Some also are interested in policy, but it’s optional.
As a person who works with politicians sometimes, they’re salespeople, and they’re a necessary evil (even ones that are personally okay). A system which de-emphasises them is a feature IMO, and party list does that very well, on top of just being dead simple.
That is fine, MPs surround themselves with influent unmarketable secretaries and advisors they need e.g. Dominic Cummings, but the elected officials need to be the face of the team. That is usually how ministers do not need to be experts in a subject, it is their deputies who do the actual technical work and usually never get elected, that is not their job, but sometimes they actually will.
It probably means the prime minister will be a more moderate figure from the left that can work with centrists. They’ll horsetrade with the centrists over cabinet positions and policy priorities. You could imagine a deal where Macronists get foreign affairs posts (like Minister for Armed Forces and Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs) and the left gets domestic ones (like Minister of Labor, Minister for Health, etc.)
In reality, that’s way simpler than it likely will be. Realistically, given France’s history, it probably means some gridlock and grandstanding. Every Prime Minister wants to be president next so there’s probably going to be some positioning for the next presidential election (in 2027) involved. Maybe they’ll get along for a year and then have new elections.