Parliament

Abstract

The framers of the 1958 Constitution were clearly decided on the place which Parliament would occupy in the new institutional structure. They wanted to retain it as the organisation composed of the people’s elected representatives, and as the body which, in the final analysis, decided whether the Government should continue in office, both of which are characteristic features of Western parliamentary democracy. But they wanted to avoid a state of affairs where Governments were overthrown frequently (un régime d’assemblée), as happened during the Fourth Republic and to a lesser extent during the Third Republic. De Gaulle accepted that political parties had their particular function, but not that the traditional forum in which they operated should dominate the political system. His view was that the concept of the separation of powers, a long-established tenet of Western democracy, should be used to establish where Parliament stood in relationship to the Executive, and to distinguish clearly their respective functions.