France Government - 1986

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Official name: French Republic

Type republic, with President having wide powers

Capital: Paris

Political subdivisions: 22 regions with 96 metropolitan departments

Legal system: civil law system with indigenous concepts; new constitution adopted 1958, amended concerning election of President in 1962; judicial review of administrative but not legislative acts; legal education at over 25 schools of law

National holiday National Day, 14 July

Branches: presidentially appointed Prime Minister heads Council of Ministers, which is formally responsible to National Assembly; bicameral legislature—National Assembly (currently 491 members but will expand to 577 as of 16 March 1986), Senate (304 members)—restricted to a delaying action; judiciary independent in principle

Government leader- Francois MITTERRAND, President (since May 1981); Jacques CHIRAC, Prime Minister (since March 1986)

Suffrage: universal over age 18; not compulsory

Elections: National Assembly—every five years, last election March 1986; proportional representation, with minimum 5 percent of the vote; Senate—indirect collegiate system for riine years, renewable by one-third every three years, last election September 1983; President, direct, universal suffrage every seven years, two ballots, last election May 1981

Political parties and leaders: majority coalition—Rally for the Republic (RPR, formerly UDR), Jacques Chirac, Union for French Democracy (UDF, federation of PR, CDS, and RAD), Jean Lecanuet; Republicans (PR), Francois Leotard; Center for Social Democrats (CDS), Pierre Mehaignerie, Radical (RAD), Andre Rossinot; left opposition— Socialist Party (PS), Lionel Jospin; Left Radical Movement (MRG), Francois Doubin; Communist Party (PCF), Georges Marchais

Voting strength: (1986 election) UDF/ RPR/CNIP, 44.9%; PS/MRG 31.6%; Communist, 9.8%; National Front, 9.7%; diverse left, 1.0%; extreme left, 1.5%; extreme right, 0.2%; other 1.2%

Communists: 700,000claimed but probably closer to 150,000; Communist voters, 2.7 million in 1986 elections

Other political or pressure groups: Communist-controlled labor union (Confederation Generate du Travail) nearly 2.4 million members (claimed); Socialistleaning labor union (Confederation Francaise Democratique du Travail— CFDT)about 800,000 members est.; independent labor union (Force Ouvriere) about 1,000,000 members est.; independent white collar union (Confederation Generale des Cadres) 340,000 members (claimed); National Council of French Employers (Conseil National du Patronat Francais—CNPF or Patronat)

Member of: ADB, Council of Europe, DAC, EC, EIB, ELDO, EMA, EMS, ESCAP, ESRO, FAO, GATT, IAEA, IATP IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, ICES, ICO, IDA, IDB—InterAmerican Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, International Lead and Zinc Study Group, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOOC, 1PU, IRC, ISO, ITC, ITU, IWC—International Whaling Commission, NATO (signatory), OAS (observer), OECD, South Pacific Commission, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WEU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WSG, WTO

NOTE: The information regarding France on this page is re-published from the 1986 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of France 1986 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about France 1986 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.