Chamber of Deputies of France

  

Chamber of Deputies Chambre des députés
12th legislature of the Kingdom of France
Type
Type	Lower house of the National Assembly of France
Leadership
President	Èric Rebeyrotte
Prime Minister	Oscar de Saint-Just
Leader of the Opposition	Mathieu Gramain
Structure
Seats	577
Political groups	In government (328)   French Action (226)   Christian Democrats (99) Official Opposition (238)   Democrats (89)   Greens (60)   Socialists (51)   Communists (38) Other opposition (14)   The Republicans (14)
Elections
Voting system	Single member constituency two-round system
Last election	April 21–22, 2019
Next election	April 2024
Meeting place
Palais Bourbon, Paris

The Chamber of Deputies (French: Chambre des députés) is the lower house of the bicameral National Assembly, the parliament of the Kingdom of France, while the upper house is the Senate. Members of the Chamber of Deputies are known as députés in French, meaning "delegate" or "envoy" in English; etymologically, it is a cognate of the English word deputy, which is the standard term for legislators in many parliamentary systems.

The Charter of 1940, the French constitution, specifies that the Chamber of Deputies has the right to propose and vote on laws, to appoint the Prime Minister of France, the head of government, and to recall him in a no-confidence. Typically, when no party gets a majority of seats, a coalition agreement is signed between parties in order to form a cabinet (known as a government), with mediation by the King of the French. The government is therefore responsible to the Chamber of Deputies and broadly implements the terms of the coalition agreement. Otherwise, when a single party wins the majority of seats, it can appoint a government without a coalition. The head of government is appointed by the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies, assisted by a deputy head of government who often represents the second largest party in the coalition. The King has the power to dissolve the Chamber, though elected deputies have a constitutional term of five years. The Prime Minister is not allowed to participate in parliamentary debates, but can address the National Assembly at its joint session meeting place, the Palace of Versailles.

The Chamber has 577 deputies, each elected to represent an electoral district. These occasionally correspond with a department, though most departments are divided into multiple districts. Following the tradition established by the French Revolution, the left-wing parties sit on the left side of the Palais Bourbon, the meeting place of the Chamber of Deputies in Paris, while right-wing parties sit on the right; the seating arrangement reflects the left–right political spectrum. The building, the Palais Bourbon, is located on the Rive Gauche of the Seine in the 7th arrondissement of Paris.

Role and relations with executive

The Charter of 1940 was designed to balance the powers of the legislative and the executive, as opposed to empowering the legislature, as was the case during the Third Republic and early Fourth Republic, or to allow the executive too much power, as in the restored Kingdom of France or in the Napoleonic French Empire. The constitution designates the Chamber of Deputies as representing the people, while the Senate theoretically represents the provinces and the Catholic Church, and the monarchy represents the state and the nation itself.

The Charter gives the monarch, in his capacity as the guardian and arbiter of the French state and symbol of French national unity, to negotiate with deputies to form a government, resolve disputes, and appoint new governments, or even to dissolve the parliament and call for a new election. As such, these are considered to be "dignified reserve powers" of the monarch in the event that elected deputies and their ministers cannot reach an agreement on an issue, and this impedes the regular functions of government. The prime minister and president of the Chamber of Deputies are also required to consult with the King on a daily basis, but especially before making major decisions and appointing ministers. The King must countersign a proposed law or constitutional amendment for it to become valid.

The French monarch also has ceremonial functions, such as opening the new session of the legislature after an election. Aside from the reserve powers, which the Constitution states are there to allow the monarch to "exercise his role as the guardian and arbiter of the French state," policy-making ability and procedure is the primary responsibility of deputies, who also select the Prime Minister and other ministers of state (in consultation with the King). The monarchy's powers were used more actively by Henry VI, between 1940 and 1999, used far less often by Henry VII until 2019, and more actively again by Jean IV. Because of this, some French constitutional scholars and historians, such as Paul Delpérée, have argued that France is in between a constitutional and an absolute monarchy, since the King also rules instead of only reigning. The French Constitutional Court confirmed that the monarch is able to use these powers in a 1978 ruling, after Henry VI threatened to dissolve the parliament during a dispute with a motion proposed by the Socialist Party.

The Chamber of Deputies can force the Government to resign by having a vote of no confidence. For this reason, the prime minister is always from the dominant party or coalition of parties. While the opposition can theoretically also propose a vote of no confidence, party discipline always leads to a vote along party lines, meaning that a no confidence vote can never succeed if it is from a parliamentary minority. The Government and the Chamber are able to set the priority for policy discussions for two weeks of each month, and the Chamber has the right to interrogate the Prime Minister about policy issues in front of the Chamber during its two weeks of control over the agenda. The opposition also has the right to do this one day a month.

Elections

Deputies are elected every five years by universal suffrage using a two-round system in a single member constituency, of which there are 577 across France and its overseas territories. There is also a select number of deputies to represent French citizens abroad. The drawing of electoral district borders is specified by the electoral laws of 1963 and 1980. The electoral districts are drawn up by an independent commission overseen by the Constitutional Court.

To win the election, a candidate must obtain at least 50% of the votes cast. If no candidate achieves this in the first round of voting, a second round will be held between the top two candidates.

Procedures

The Chamber of Deputies sets the agenda to be deliberated by the parliament for the first two weeks of each month, followed by two weeks of the Prime Minister and other members of the Government setting the agenda. The president of the Chamber and the prime minister are required to speak with the King on a daily basis to keep him informed of the situation.

New laws can be proposed during each of those two periods by either a deputy or a minister of the Government, respectively. The law proposals can be passed in the order of the Chamber of Deputies, followed by the Senate. If there is deadlock in the Chamber, and negotiations by the King have not resolved it, the Senate may intervene to break the deadlock. Certain types of laws must originate in the Senate – notably those that modify the Constitution, make changes to provincial or department borders, and those that pertain to French citizens living abroad. The text of each law must be first reviewed by the Chamber of Deputies commission that specializes in the sphere that is relevant to the law.

History

Kingdom of France (1815–1848)

The Deputies at the Palais Bourbon in 1841.

Conditions and benefits of deputies

Deputies wear tricolor sashes based on the flag of France when attending certain public functions.

Deputies receive a monthly salary of FR 7,043.69, as of 2023. In addition, each deputy's office receives FR 5,867.39 to pay for job-related expenses and to pay FR 8,949 office employees. Each deputy also received special benefits, including healthcare, a pension fund, and unemployment insurance. The expenses and income of each deputy can be investigated by a commission, or by the Conseil d'État (Council of State).

Under the constitution, a deputy must be a French citizen and be at least 18 years old. A candidate must have also fulfilled his military or alternative service. A deputy cannot simultaneously hold certain offices, such as a Senator, a Constitutional Court judge, or provincial or departmental government positions. A candidate is ineligible to run for the Chamber of Deputies if he is in active duty military service or was recently a departmental or municipal official in the electoral district that he is running in.

See also

• National Assembly of France
  • Senate of France

This page uses material from the Wikipedia page National Assembly (France), which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).