Your article (France in political crisis after no-confidence vote topples government, 4 December) accurately reports the events immediately surrounding the vote of no confidence in Michel Barnier’s coalition government. But apart from the observable mediocrity of many of the key players – at least two former prime ministers seem to have become rather economical with the truth concerning what laws can actually be passed before the end of this calendar year, or next year, by an incoming government – other elements help explain the crisis.
The main factor is that the current result is the outcome of the party system, which is itself a direct consequence of the voting system. Holding the legislative elections over two rounds, with parties obtaining more than 12.5% of the local electorate allowed to run in the second round, tends to favour many parties, each led, obviously, by an ambitious politician.
While this is a key feature of the Fifth Republic – the idea that citizens vote with their heart in the first round, and either with their wallet, or to block the least-favoured candidate, in the second round – it does mean that forming a stable and politically coherent majority can become a more challenging task than in a first-past-the-post system. This is especially true when the party leaders are eyeing up the next presidential election, where the lion’s share of political power lies.
Perhaps the Fifth Republic, relatively stable till now, is past its sell-by date. It remains to be seen how stable the current leftwing block of the New Popular Front is, with its four parties and therefore four presidential candidates, or whether the attraction of immediate power and influence is stronger than previously stated principles.
Steve Brown
Fontenay-sous-Bois, France
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