President Emmanuel Macron announced, on the evening of Sunday June 9, the dissolution of the National Assembly after the victory of the National Rally in the European elections. The French are therefore invited to return to the polls, on June 30 and July 7.
The dissolution of the National Assembly is a prerogative of the President of the Republic enshrined in the Constitution of 1958. It allows the president, after consulting his Prime Minister, the presidency of the National Assembly and the presidency of the Senate, to end the mandates of deputies.
New elections must then be organized between 21 and 40 days at the latest after dissolution. This decision is often taken during a political crisis or disagreement between the government and the National Assembly. The last dissolution was decided by Jacques Chirac in 1997 and it saw the left win a majority of seats, giving rise to the appointment of Lionel Jospin to Matignon and cohabitation.
Under General de Gaulle in 1862 and 1968
The first president to dissolve the National Assembly during the Fifth Republic was none other than General de Gaulle, on October 9, 1962. It took place after the adoption of a motion of censure at the initiative of the socialiststhe MRP and the Independents, opposed to a constitutional revision aimed at establishing the election of the President of the Republic by direct universal suffrage.
General de Gaulle emerged strengthened from the elections of November 1962, which allows him to form a real majority around him.
On May 30, 1968, Charles de Gaulle once again dissolved the Assembly elected a year earlier at the end of the long social crisis – the “events” of May 68 – which shook the government. The June elections resulted in a right-wing tidal wave, the Gaullists alone obtaining an absolute majority.
Under Mitterand in 1981 and 1988
The day after his presidential inauguration, the socialist François Mitterrand dissolved, on May 22, 1981, the National Assembly elected in March 1978 where the right had an absolute majority. The Socialists obtained an absolute majority at the end of the June elections.
Re-elected in 1988, François Mitterrand dissolved the Assembly elected in March 1986 on May 14, where the right held an absolute majority. The elections that follow this time only give a relative majority to the socialists.
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