@article{2017:kimmel:die_wahlen,
title = {Die Wahlen zur französischen Nationalversammlung am 11. und 18. Juni 2017: Ende der Bipolarität, Anfang tiefgreifenden Wandels?},
year = {2017},
note = {Before the French parliamentary elections in 2017, a pattern that had
become expected since 2002 seemed endangered . Since the early 2000s,
presidents had always managed to gain a majority at the parliamentary
elections held shortly after their own election . Holding a majority
in parliament is of great importance for the president in order to be
able to enforce his governmental program . Keeping with this pattern
seemed highly unlikely in 2017 since President Emmanuel Macron’s
party La République en Marche (LRM) had only been founded a few
months before the elections and was not really rooted in society .
Seven parties are now represented in parliament, with - against all
odds - Macron’s LRM holding the majority of seats and the
conservative Republicans (LR) being the strongest opposition party .
In a landslide loss, the formerly strongest party in parliament, the
Socialist PS, lost 250 of 280 seats; the right populist Front National
failed to reach parliamentary party status, despite its good
presidential election result . The Assemblée Nationale, formerly
characterised by a left-right antagonism can no longer be described
along that cleavage . Whether the parliamentary reform announced by
President Macron will pass and whether it will invigorate parliament
remains to be seen . Regardless of that outcome, the president’s
position will remain the dominant one .},
journal = {ZParl Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen},
pages = {805--823},
author = {Kimmel, Adolf},
volume = {48},
number = {4}
}