France

The French Socialists are in the middle of the process of choosing a new party leader. Here is some background on the French political system, and how their parties have reached their current situation.

The constitutional arrangements currently in place in France are called the "Fifth Republic".

France switched back and forth between monarchy and republican government, in the aftermath of the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century. Also, they have adopted new constitutions at certain points during their republican eras.

After the French regained control of their territory from Germany in World War II, they launched a short-lived arrangement called the Fourth Republic. A political crisis that arose in 1958, largely stemming from France's war against rebels in Algeria, then a colony, sounded the death-knell of the Fourth Republic.

General Charles de Gaulle, hero of the French Resistance in World War II, came out of retirement in 1958, to become president under the new Fifth Republic.

As was the case with previous French republican constitutions, the Fifth Republic is a parliamentary system. However, the head of state, an elected president, has greater political power than is the case in most other countries with parliamentary systems.

That stems in part from constitutional powers, such as the president's (real, not just formal) right to dissolve parliament and call a general election. But I think it also derives from the manner in which presidents are elected. De Gaulle was originally chosen by an electoral college. But his reelection in 1965, and all subsequent presidential elections, have been by direct popular vote. That gives the president a type of authority that a hereditary monarch, such as Queen Elizabeth of the U.K., or an indirectly-elected president, such as that of Germany, does not possess.

French presidential elections are conducted in two rounds. If no candidate gets more than 50% in the first round (and none ever has), the top two candidates stand in a runoff election.

De Gaulle put a very personal stamp on his movement. He and his allies were informally called the Gaullist party. That party became institutionalized after his resignation in 1969, and has been known at various times by such names as Rally for the Republic, and the Union for a Popular Movement.

The Socialists were also-rans for the first couple of decades of the Fifth Republic. Their high-water mark came in 1981, when Socialist Francois Mitterand was elected president and, for the first time in the Fifth Republic, a coalition led by the party gained a majority in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.

The party's nadir came 21 years later, when they failed to make it through to the second round of the 2002 presidential election. The electorate's only choices were center-right (incumbent President Jacques Chirac, a Gaullist) and far-right (Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of a xenophobic party called the National Front). Chirac won.

The Socialists did better in the 2007 presidential election, but still lost. Their candidate, Segolene Royal, the first woman to make it into the second round, lost to Nicholas Sarkozy, by 53% to 47%.

As you can see in the BBC piece I linked to above, Royal is one of the candidates in the upcoming runoff of the Socialist leadership election.

UPDATE: What do Segolene Royal and Al Franken have in common? Pressing a recount of an extemely close vote.