Page 177 - DPOL202_COMPARATIVE_POLITICS_AND_GOVERNMENT_ENGLISH

Comparative Politics and Government

Notes 1. The strong position of the President, not found in a cabinet system of government, becomes
evident form various directions where he uses his authority independently or in his own
discretion. Nothing save his personal judgement is the decisive factor. President is the arbiter’—
the custodian of the constitutional government. The powers of the President are ‘over-riding’
in matters of war, foreign policy, defence, internal peace and, above all, the functioning of the
governmental institutions.
2. The President is the virtual master of his Council of Ministers. He not only presides over the
meetings of the cabinet, he can also veto a decision. The position of the Prime Minister is extremely
delicate ; he must support the President, or face his own downfall. The President does not
‘designate’ the Prime Minister (as under Third and Fourth Republics), he appoints him without
mandate from the National Assembly. The Constitution nowhere makes it obligatory that the
Prime Minister must secure mandate from the National Assembly prior to his becoming the
Head of the Government, gathering ministers, and starting to work with full authority.
3. More astounding is the arrangement of ‘counter-signatures’. It is stipulated in the Constitution
that the acts of the President (excepting appointment and dismissal of the Prime Minister and
other ministers, decision to hold a refrendum, dissolution of the National Assembly, use of
emergency powers, sending messages to the Parliament, referring certain matters to the
Constitutional Council, appointment of the President and the three members of the Constitutional
Council, and referring organic laws and important matters of this body before promulgating
them to test their constitutional validity) must be countersigned by the Prime Minister and
other ministers if circumstances so require. But the astonishing feature of the French constitutional
system is that the reponsibility is of the Prime Minister and of his Cabinet and not that of the
President. The National Assembly can pass a vote of censure against the Cabinet but not against
the President.
4. The President has the power to dissolve the National Assembly in his discretion for no other
reason than to impose his point of view. His consultation with the Prime Minister and the
Presidents of the National Assembly and the Senate is a mere formality. The decree of the
President in this direction does not need approval of any other agency. The only limitation on
the power of the President in this regard is that the new Assembly cannot be dissolved before
the expiry of one year. It is understandable that, like the British Prime Minister, the French
President has a very effective power in his hands to compel ‘rival’ politicians to come to terms
with him. It is also conceivable that the President might use this weapon not merely to bring an
unruly Assembly in discipline but also to get rid of a government with which he finds it difficult
to get along.
5. There is the provision of referendum where the President can act in his discretion or on the
recommendation of the Government if he so pleases. Art. 3 of the Constitution vests national
sovereignty in the people who exercise it through their representatives and by means of a
referenda. The initiative for submitting a question to the people for their vote at a referendum
rests with the Government or the Parliament. It is laid down in Art. 11 of the Constitution that
on the proposal of the Government during the session of the Parliament, or when the two
Houses propose that a referendum be held on a bill dealing with the organisation of public
authorities, approving a Community agreement or proposing notification of a treaty which,
without being contrary to the Constitution, affects the functioning of institutions, the President
may submit it for a referendum.
6. The emergency powers of the President, as provided under Art. 16 of the Constitution, are
hailed by the supporters of the framers as the essential instrument to prevent the recurrence of
any catastrophe like that of 1940, these are also taken as a channel of legal dictatorship by those
who may be called the critics of the Constitution. Although the President is constitutionally
required to consult four agencies (Prime Minister, President of the National Assembly, President
of the Senate and President of the State Council), he is the sole judge to determine whether the
circumstances so warrant or not. It is in his discretion to decide when the declaration should be
made and what necessary steps should be taken to face that crisis.

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