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The Palais Bourbon, front

The French National Assembly (French: Assemblée nationale) is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The other is the Senate (“Sénat”).

The National Assembly consists of 577 members known as députés (deputies), each elected by a single-member constituency. Deputies are elected in each constituency through a two-rounds system. 289 seats are required for a majority. It is presided over by a president (currently Bernard Accoyer), normally from the largest party represented, assisted by vice-presidents from across the represented political spectrum. The term of the National Assembly is five years; however, the President of the Republic may dissolve the Assembly (for example, by calling for new elections) unless he has dissolved it in the preceding twelve months. This measure is becoming rarer since the 2000 referendum reduced the President's term from seven to five years : a President has its majority elected in the Assembly two months after him, and it would be useless for him to dissolve it.

The official seat of the National Assembly is the Palais Bourbon on the banks of the river Seine (48°51′43″N 2°19′07″E / 48.861899, 2.318605); the Assembly also uses other neighbouring buildings, including the Immeuble Chaban-Delmas on the rue de l’Université (48°51′39″N 2°18′57″E / 48.860799, 2.315902). It is guarded by Republican Guards; huissiers oversee the operations inside the meeting amphitheater and in other facilities.

Following a tradition started by the first National Assembly during the French Revolution, the “left-wing” parties sit to the left as seen from the president’s seat, and the “right-wing” parties sit to the right, and the seating arrangement thus directly indicates the political spectrum as represented in the Assembly.

Inside the Palais Bourbon

Deputies, here Martine Billard (Greens) wears a tricolor scarf on official occasions outside of the Assembly, or in public marches

The President of the Republic can decide to dissolve the National Assembly and call for new legislative elections. This is meant as a way to resolve stalemates where the Assembly cannot decide on a clear political direction. This possibility is seldom exercised. The last dissolution was by Jacques Chirac in 1997, following from the lack of popularity of prime minister Alain Juppé; however, the plan backfired, and the newly elected majority was opposed to Chirac.

The National Assembly can overthrow the executive government (that is, the Prime Minister and other ministers) by voting a motion of censure. For this reason, the prime minister and his cabinet are necessarily from the dominant party or coalition in the assembly. In the case of a president and assembly from opposing parties, this leads to the situation known as cohabitation. While motions of censure are periodically proposed by the opposition following government actions that it deems highly inappropriate, they are purely rhetorical; party discipline ensures that, throughout a parliamentary term, the government is never overthrown by the Assembly. Officially there has never been censure. The Government (the Prime Minister and the Minister of relationships with Parliament) sets the priority agenda for the Assembly’s sessions, except for a single day each month. In practice, given the number of priority items, it means that the schedule of the Assembly is almost entirely set by the executive; bills generally only have a chance to be examined if proposed or supported by the executive.

Since 1988, the 577 deputies are elected by the direct universal suffrage with a two-round system by constituency, for a five-year mandate, subject to dissolution. The constituencies each comprise 100,000 inhabitants more or less. The electoral law of 1986 specifies that variations of population between constituencies should not, in any case, lead to a constituency exceeding more than 20% the average population of the constituencies of the département.^[1] However, there are inequalities between the less populated rural districts and the urban districts. For example, the deputy for the most populated constituency, Val-d'Oise, represents 188,000 voters, while the deputy for the least populated constituency, Lozere, accounts for only 34,000.^[2]

To be elected in the first round of voting, a candidate must obtain at least 50% of the votes cast, with a turn-out of at least 25% of the registered voters on the electoral rolls. If no candidate is elected in the first round, those who poll in excess of 12.5% of the first-round vote are entered in the second round of voting. In the second round, it is the candidate who gains the most votes who is elected. Each candidate is enrolled along with a substitute, who takes the candidates place in the event of inability to represent the constituency, when the deputy becomes minister for example.

The organic law of 10 July 1985 established a system of party-list proportional representation within the framework of the département. It was necessary within this framework to obtain at least 5% of the vote to elect an official. However, the legislative election of 1986, carried out under this system, gave France a new majority which returned to the plurality voting system. There are 570 elected officials of the departments,^[3] five representatives of the overseas collectivities (two for French Polynesia, one for Wallis and Futuna, one for Saint Pierre and Miquelon and one for Mayotte) and two for New Caledonia since 1986.

See also: 13th Legislature (France)

The last legislative elections, held in June 2007 resulted in the following distribution of seats:

• Politics of France
• National Assembly
• French Parliament
• French Congress
• List of Presidents of the French National Assembly
• Deputies of the 12th French National Assembly (2002-2007)
• Deputies of the 13th French National Assembly (2007-2012)

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