Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Motion of no confidence
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
===France=== {{Main|Article 49 of the French Constitution}} In [[France]], the conditions under which the [[National Assembly (France)|National Assembly]], the lower house of the French Parliament, can bring down the government through a motion of no-confidence are outlined in paragraphs 2 and 3 of article 49 of the Constitution of the [[French Fifth Republic|Fifth Republic]]: * a spontaneous motion of no-confidence ('''article 49.2''') ** requires the sponsoring of 58 MPs (a tenth of the total number of lawmakers) to be tabled; ** is debated and voted upon at least 48 hours after it has been tabled; ** needs the backing of an absolute majority of the National Assembly members (normally 289 out of 577) to be passed; ** an MP cannot sponsor more than three different spontaneous motions of no-confidence per regular parliamentary session and no more than one per extraordinary parliamentary session. * a motion of no-confidence in response to the [[Council of Ministers of France|Council of Ministers]]' decision to push a bill through without a vote ('''article 49.3''') ** same conditions to be tabled and passed than those outlined in article 49.2; ** no numerical limits set on the MPs' ability to sponsor such a motion. In both cases, if the motion succeeds, the prime minister is required to tender their government's resignation to the President. In the particular case of a motion of no-confidence tabled in response to the government's pushing a bill through without a vote under the provisions of article 49.3, if the motion succeeds, the bill on which the cabinet has committed its responsibility is defeated and the government falls. Two motions of no-confidence have been passed since the start of the Fifth Republic in 1958: one in 1962, and a second in 2024. *In 1962, a spontaneous motion of no-confidence under article 49.2 was tabled against the [[Georges Pompidou|Pompidou]] government over a [[1962 French presidential election referendum|constitutional reform dispute]]. The Assembly passed the motion on 5 October 1962, by 280 votes (the absolute majority required was 241 at that time). President [[Charles de Gaulle|de Gaulle]] refused to accept PM Pompidou's resignation, instead dissolving the National Assembly and calling a [[1962 French legislative election|snap election]] that resulted in an increased majority for his government. * a motion of no-confidence under article 49.3 was passed against the [[Barnier government|Barnier]] on 4 December 2024 by 331 votes (required majority of 288).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nossiter |first=Adam |date=4 December 2024 |title=France's Prime Minister Loses No-Confidence Vote and Is Expected to Resign |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/04/world/europe/france-no-confidence-barnier.html |website=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> In accordance with the Constitution, Barnier resigned as Prime Minister on 5 December and the 2025 Social Security budget bill, on which the PM resorted to the special constitutional power, was defeated without a vote. During the [[French Third Republic|Third Republic]], members of both the Senate and [[Chamber of deputies (France)|Chamber of Deputies]] could, with a simple [[Interpellation (politics)|interpellation]] and a vote, force the government into resigning, creating instability. The [[French Fourth Republic|Fourth Republic]] introduced the censure motion with the majority of the membership needed to pass to replace interpellation, and removed the option of initiative by the Senate. Nevertheless, instability continued.<ref name="Gualino Éditeurs">{{cite book |last1=Türk |first1=Pauline |title=Mémentos LMD Principes fondamentaux de droit constitutionnel |date=2016 |publisher=Gualino Éditeurs |pages=137–142 |language=French |isbn=978-2297055628}}</ref> According to historian René Rémond, President of the Council [[Paul Ramadier]] set up a precedent by submitting the composition of his government to a confidence vote after an interpellation by a deputy, despite the constitution not mentioning this process, thus recreating the problem of the preceding republic.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rémond |first1=René |title=Histoire de France sous la direction de Jean Favier, Tome 6, Notre Siècle |date=1988 |publisher=Fayard |isbn=978-2-213-02039-6 |page=392 |edition=1988 |language=French}}</ref> The [[French Fifth Republic|Fifth Republic]] restricted again the conditions of the motion by counting only the votes in favor of the deposition of the government, one tenth of the Assembly's membership (58 deputies) being now needed to issue such motion according to Article 49 of the constitution.<ref name="Gualino Éditeurs"/> Article 27 allows lawmakers to delegate their votes for the no-confidence motion if they are not available the day of the open ballot.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carcassonne |first1=Guy |last2=Guillaume |first2=Marc |title=La Constitution |date=2016 |publisher=Points |isbn=978-2757857199 |pages=249–259 |language=French}}</ref>
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)