Following his party's heavy defeat in the European elections, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday, June 9, he was dissolving the Assemblée Nationale, the lower house of the French Parliament. New parliamentary elections will be held on June 30 and July 7.
Article 12 of the French Constitution allows the president to end the Assemblée Nationale's term early. Essentially, the end of the five-year team, which was scheduled for 2027, has been advanced to 2024.
Dissolving the Assemblée is a weapon that allows the president to extricate France from an institutional crisis or gridlock, such as when the presidency and the parliamentary majority are unable to work together.
Article 12 of the Constitution sets out three constraints: who can do it, the timing of the dissolution, and the procedure to be followed.
Who? Only the president of the Republic can dissolve the Assemblée Nationale.
When? At least one year must have elapsed between the previous parliamentary elections and the dissolution.
How? The president must consult the prime minister and the presidents of the two chambers of Parliament before declaring the dissolution.
Article 12 cannot be activated in two specific cases.
Early parliamentary elections are held in the same format as conventional parliamentary elections, with a two-round majority vote in each constituency.
Voting must take place between 20 and 40 days after the declaration of dissolution of the Assemblée Nationale – in this case, between June 29 and July 19, 2024. The first round has been scheduled for June 30, and the second for July 7.
Current legislative projects have been suspended altogether.
Bills in progress can be revisited in the next legislature if the new government presents them to the new Assemblée Nationale. However, they will have to restart the legislative process from scratch.
There are five.
By calling parliamentary elections in 2024, three years ahead of the next presidential election, Macron is putting the legislative term out of sync with the presidential term. Since the switch to a five-year presidential term in 2002, parliamentary elections have consistently taken place right after presidential elections. Each parliamentary election has produced a majority from the same political side as the recently elected president.
There have been no cohabitations since the alignment of these electoral calendars.
The two elections could be realigned again if the next president, in 2027, decides to dissolve the Assemblée Nationale after their arrival at the Elysée Palace.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.