Spot light on the semi-presidential system

Presented BY : Mostafa Mahmoud MaraeyI.D No. : 3141300Material : Comparative Politics

Introduction-: The semi-presidential system is a system of government in which a president exists along with a prime minister and the Cabinet, with the latter two being responsible to the legislature of a state. It differs from a parliamentary republic in that it has a popularly elected head of state who is more than a purely ceremonial figurehead, and from the presidential system in that the cabinet, although named by the president, is responsible to the legislature, which may force the cabinet to resign through a motion of no confidence.

Definition-: Semi-presidential system is where a constitution includes a popularly elected fixed-term president and a prime minister and cabinet who are collectively responsible to the legislature.

History of the system-:

While the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) was one of the earliest examples of a semi-presidential system, the term was first used in a 1978 work by political scientist Maurice Duverger to describe the then relatively new French Fifth Republic.

The French semi-presidential system started in 1958 by “Charlie Digul “ under the name of the fifth republic. Where he created a new constitution then he put it to the public referendum and it accepted.The foundation of the Fifth Republic has gone through many stages, the first was the fall of the Fourth Republic after the Algerian revolution, then “ René Coty “ the president asked “ Digul “ to form a government.The constitution of “ Digul “ was different because it accepted a new rational parliamentary system controlled by the executive system and it granted the president more powers to act. This form became the similar of what the system is now.

Features of the semi-presidential system-:

• A combination of the presidential and the parliamentary perceptions.

• The dual tasks of an elected president and a government which nominated on the base of the partisan majority in the parliament.

• The government bears the political responsibility because it emerged of the parliament.

• The government have the right of dissolving the parliament.

Advantages-:

•The government has the right of issuing bills and present it to the parliament to discuss it and vote for it by only yes or no.

•The parliament has the right of withdraw confidence of a minister or another.

•This system restricted the power of the president in dissolving the parliament and it is available for one time per year.

Disadvantages-: _ The main problem in this system represented in the interests clash between the president and the head of the government who came by the parliament, this problem was nicknamed in France as “ The double coexistence problem “. This problem acted in France when the socialist president “Metirain “ was elected by the people and he should work together with the right capitalist head of government “ Chirak “ who nominated by the parliament in 1968._ The president can misuse of the right of people referendum as it is now prevalent in some countries.

A comparison with other system-:

The presidential system: in this system the executive authority is independent of the legislature and it couldn’t be under its control and it couldn’t dissolve the parliament.

The parliamentary System: in this system the ministers represented as the executive branch of the parliament. The legislature is so interpolated with the executive authority. Also in this system the head of government of course is the executive author and the great parliamentarians alike.

The Egyptian case-: Egypt has remained over the years using the semi-presidential system which is so close with the French system.Although in the past the president “ Mubarak “ had the authority of appointing the head of the government and he used to marginalize the role of the parliament by asking the government to ask bills then it accepted by the fake parliament.

After the revolution Egypt has seen a great political confusion in the absence of the constitution and the role of legislature, even the president becomes unique of all authorities.

Conclusion-: As a conclusion, this variation of the political systems shouldn’t affect on working for the interests of people in all places and times. And only the people have the decisions to choose who will work for their interests.