Al JazeeraGiven the intransigent nature of French politics, what happens if no one wins an absolute majority? How long will the political deadlock continue?
Hugo Droschon, Professor of Political Theory at the University of Nottingham, based in Provence, FranceThese are uncharted territories, at least in the Fifth Republic, because Charles de Gaulle introduced them in order to break away from that and to get a stronger presidency in the current Fifth Republic.
But if we think back to the Third and Fourth Republics, we see that coalition building went much further.
France has this history, and obviously coalition building has been happening across the continent, and it’s quite common in Germany and the Netherlands, but France will need to rediscover it.
Recently there have been positive hints and calls from various political parties, from the Republicans to the centre-left to the centre-right, the Socialists, the Greens and the Presidential Party, to bring together several parties and agree on a programme for next year.
It may take some time for that to happen, but the party seems to be moving towards it.
We are already seeing a little bit of this happening, but we must remember that in 2022 Macron only won a relative majority, not an absolute majority.
