Pension reform: what will happen if the National Assembly is dissolved?

It’s neat. Emmanuel Macron will not announce the dissolution of the National Assembly, said participants in the meeting, which took place on Tuesday morning at the Elysee Palace, the day after the vote of no confidence was rejected after using 49.3 to pass the pension reform, and on the eve of an interview on TF 1 and France 2. However, however, the topic is a burning one for a government that has seen its already timid majority wither away and is facing swollen opposition (“Chish, Monsieur Macron, let’s move on to a dissolution,” launched on Monday by RN MP Laure Lavalette).

But what happens if, no matter what, Emmanuel Macron decides to dissolve the National Assembly? He is the only one who can do it whenever he wants. Dissolution is provided for in Article 12 of the Constitution: “The President of the Republic may, after consultation with the Prime Minister and the Presidents of the Assemblies, declare the dissolution of the National Assembly. If it is possible for deputies to do so, senators “defend themselves” since the Constitution does not provide for the dissolution of the Senate.

Specifically, the dissolution of the National Assembly leads to the termination of the powers of all deputies and the organization of new elections. It’s fast: they must be held between 20 and 40 days after the announcement of the dissolution, under the same rules as “classic” legislative elections. There can be no new dissolution less than a year before the previous one.

Five dissolutions so far

In the Fifth Republic, the National Assembly has been dissolved “only” five times, including twice by Charles de Gaulle (in 1962 and 1968), twice by François Mitterrand (in 1981 and 1988), and once by Jacques Chirac (in 1997). The first dissolution, decided by Charles de Gaulle, follows a vote of censure in the National Assembly that overthrew the government of Georges Pompidou, as part of the establishment of a referendum to elect the universal suffrage of the President of the Republic. It is currently the only vote of no confidence passed in the Fifth Republic.

The following dissolutions are more a matter of political tactics: in 1968, Charles de Gaulle decides on new elections by dissolution in order to establish his legitimacy; in 1981 and 1988 François Mitterrand dissolved the National Assembly because in both cases the majority was hostile to him. “We cannot pursue a different policy without another majority,” the president justified when, at that time, the elections to the legislative bodies were not held in step with the elections of the president of the republic (the mandate of deputies lasts five years, there are seven presidents).

Jacques Chirac in 1997, two years after his election, also decided to dissolve the National Assembly to keep the majority, a year before the originally scheduled elections, and while opinion polls suggested he was losing ground. However, it was a failure that led to coexistence with the left and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, who won that legislative election. Since the president’s mandate was extended to five years in early 2000, the alignment between presidential and legislative elections made the dissolution less timely.