# The French government fell today (12/4/24). Does anyone care?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [December 5, 2024, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176 "2024-12-05T02:25:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2024, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176/41 "2024-12-06T15:06:25Z")
It does seem to be good at biting too.
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2024, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176/42 "2024-12-06T15:36:54Z")
I think the closest parallel (albeit almost inverse) in US politics would be every time elections cause the same party to control Congress and the Presidency simultaneously. And it’s not a very good parallel even at that.
But we don’t have the no-confidence vote mechanism to force new elections and “restart” like parliamentary systems do; our elections are every two/four years without exception. So in a sense, our “governments” never actually change (and in another, they do every 2/4 years). Part of that is due to the election cycle, and part is because the terms all overlap each other in strange ways, with two, four and six year terms.
Another important difference is that our de-facto two party system essentially forces a majority in each house of Congress. So we don’t really end up with these sorts of deadlocks where three parties can paralyze each other. One party’s always got control of each house, and one party’s always got two of the three of House, Senate, and Presidency. So our default tends to be this sort of deadlock (to a certain degree), and only occasionally do all three align.
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### Author:  [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2024, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176/43 "2024-12-06T16:29:07Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#):
>
> The US has Fox News and it’s not going away.
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> It does seem to be good at biting too.
Yes, Fox News bites.
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### Author:  [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2024, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176/44 "2024-12-06T16:40:51Z")
> [@bump](#):
>
> But we don’t have the no-confidence vote mechanism to force new elections and “restart” like parliamentary systems do;
As I understand it, part of the problem specific to France is that the President cannot call an election within one year of the last election. So Macron’s stuck with the Parlaiment he’s got at least for now.
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2024, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176/45 "2024-12-06T18:13:46Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#):
>
> Query: “secular parliament”? not familiar with that term.
Wrong word choice, “parliamentary republic,” where the head of state is elected in some fashion or appointed and approved, so unlike Canada. Or the UK, which is not secular either as the same monarch is also the head of the national church.
> [@colinfred](#):
>
> Take the chicken, come back for the corn. Fuck the fox, why do you need a fox anyway?
So you can answer that timeless question: what DOES the fox say?
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### Author:  [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2024, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176/46 "2024-12-06T19:54:19Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#):
>
> Or the UK, which is not secular either as the same monarch is also the head of the national church.
We also still have bishops sitting in the House of Lords. Labour have promised to finish reforming the upper house at some point, but it’s a low priority for now.
I believe that only 2 countries give clerics an automatic seat in their assemblies. The UK and Iran. One is a backwards looking country with a ruined economy. The other is Iran.
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### Author:  [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2024, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176/47 "2024-12-06T20:40:51Z")
> [@Cervaise](#):
>
> France is very unlikely to embrace and elevate a political arsonist to a position of real power, as apparently just happened in Romania; it’s just not in their culture.
That’s what we thought before Trump came along.
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### Author:  [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2024, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176/48 "2024-12-06T20:54:27Z")
The 12-month thing was built into the system by de Gaulle specifically to avoid the revolving-door governments of the Fourth Republic who often lasted months or weeks before falling, and making France the butt of a thousand jokes.
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### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2024, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176/49 "2024-12-06T21:53:30Z")
In retrospect a better choice would’ve been requirement for a _constructive_ no-confidence vote; the National Assembly would have to simultaneously a replacement PM for the vote to be successful. It’s worked for Germany.
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### Author:  [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2024, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176/50 "2024-12-06T22:24:21Z")
Speaking of Romania, some amazing news coming from there: Apparently a court has annulled the results of the election there, saying it was entirely corrupted by Russian propaganda:
[https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/thousands-attend-pro-european-rally-romania-ahead-presidential-run-off-vote-2024-12-06/](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/thousands-attend-pro-european-rally-romania-ahead-presidential-run-off-vote-2024-12-06/)
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2024, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176/51 "2024-12-07T18:00:06Z")
Yeah, the French system is sort of peculiar, compared to other parliamentary systems, in that it’s both got a President with a high degree of power (most are mere heads of state like Frank-Walter Steinmeier), and it’s got some unusual rules like this inability to call new elections.
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### Author:  [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2024, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176/52 "2024-12-13T12:21:48Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#):
>
> Names I’ve seen mentioned are Bernard Cazeneuve (moderate Socialist and former PM) and François Bayrou (centrist).
And he’s gone for Bayrou
> **[François Bayrou commands respect - but will he succeed?](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy9qv79n40zo)**
>
> It is hard to see how he can avoid the same man-traps that felled his predecessor, writes Hugh Schofield.
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2024, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176/53 "2024-12-13T13:01:41Z")
Anyone want to set up _une tête de laitue_ ?
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2024, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176/54 "2024-12-13T13:04:38Z")
So how many Trusses or Scaramuccis is this fellow likely to last?
Which presumably short half-life may or may not say much about his merits, versus what it says about the vice he’s putting his 'nads into.
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### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2025, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176/55 "2025-09-09T21:24:30Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#):
>
> And he’s gone for Bayrou
And now Bayrou has resigned nine months later after having lost a confidence vote, to be replaced by the defense minister Sébastien Lecornu.
> **[Emmanuel Macron appoints his third prime minister in a year](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/09/francois-bayrou-france-block-everything-protests-macron)**
>
> Sébastien Lecornu, a presidential ally, is tasked with bringing France’s divided parties together to pass a budget
Will he last 9 months?
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### Author:  [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2025, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176/56 "2025-09-09T21:47:03Z")
> [@PastTense](#):
>
> Will he last 9 months?
Do they have an equivalent of the “[Lettuce Test](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_Truss_lettuce)” in France?
How come the US Government can’t “fall” at some random time, do to a no-confidence vote?
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2025, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176/57 "2025-09-09T21:53:48Z")
> [@snowthx](#):
>
> How come the US Government can’t “fall” at some random time, do to a no-confidence vote?
Because it has no provision for such a vote.
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2025, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176/58 "2025-09-09T22:08:47Z")
I suggested that for the last guy, in post 53 above.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2025, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176/59 "2025-09-09T22:35:21Z")
> [@snowthx](#):
>
> How come the US Government can’t “fall” at some random time, do to a no-confidence vote?
Because we got the early-adopter beta-test version of democracy, before all of the bugs were worked out.
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### Author:  [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2025, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-french-government-fell-today-12-4-24-does-anyone-care/1011176/60 "2025-09-09T22:38:55Z")
I have read it argued that United Statesian democracy is basically the 18th century version of English Parliamentary Democracy, only with an elected king.
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