The French Election of 1956: I. Electoral Law and Machinery
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-9248.1956.tb00949.x |
| Published date | 01 January 1956 |
| Date | 01 January 1956 |
| Author | H. G. Nicholas |
| Subject Matter | Article |
THE
FRENCH ELECTION
OF
1956l
I.
ELECTORAL LAW AND MACHINERY
H.
G.
NICHOLAS
New
College,
Oxlord
THE
Constitution
of
the Fourth Republic contains
only
two stipulations
regarding elections. Chapter
I,
Article
3,
refers to ‘the National Assembly,
elected by universal suffrage, equal, direct and secret’; Article
4
asserts,
‘Within the conditions laid down by law, all French citizens and nationals
of
both sexes, who have attained their majority, and enjoy civil and political
rights, are electors.’ These provisions apart, it has been left to the French
Parliament to lay down such rules as it thinks fit
for
the conduct of elections.
In the elections of
2
January 1956 most
of
the legal framework was that
erected by the Electoral Law
of
I95
1.
This electoral law, however, like the
Constitution
of
the Fourth Republic itself, is basically only an adaptation
of
earlier rules and practices; indeed it is probably true to say that there
was not very much in the processes of the 1956 elections which would have
appeared strange to
a
voter under the Third Republic.
The explicit provisions of the Constitution with regard
to
voting rights
have left subsequent legislation with little to do beyond arranging the
technical details of their application. ‘French nationals’ for this purpose
have been defined as persons who have been naturalized for
a
period
of
five years, though service in the French forces
or
the rendering
of
‘excep-
tional services’
to
the Republic may entitle naturalized citizens to a vote
at an earlier date. Women who acquired French nationality by marriage
are not entitled to
a
vote until six months after the marriage has taken
place. The voting age is twenty-one for all elections, though the limit is
lowered to eighteen in the case
of
the holder
of
such distinctions as the
LCgion d’Honneur
or
the Mtdaille Militaire. ‘Enjoyment
of
civil and
political rights’ excludes certain obvious categories-criminals, undis-
charged bankrupts, &c., as well as persons sentenced
to
digradation
nationale
for collaboration during the Second World War. For most
of
*
This
survey was arranged by Nufield
College,
Oxford. Two further studies will appear
in the next
issue.
(Ed.)
A
limited number of offprints of the complete
survey
will be available
after October
on
application to the Clarendon Press.
PoUtlcal
Studies,
Vol.
IV.
No.
2
(1956,
139-176).
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