Chirac yields to demand on tenure

By Vaiju Naravane

PARIS, JUNE 6. In a televised interview late Monday, the French President, Mr. Jacques Chirac said he was in favour of reducing the French Presidential term from seven to five years, but that he would not contemplate limiting the re-election of an incumbent to two terms as had been suggested. These changes would not apply to Mr. Chirac's present seven-year term which expires in 2002.

A draft Bill will be sent to the National Assembly and Senate as early as next Monday and a referendum is likely to be held in October. The next President, if the French vote ``yes'' as they are overwhelmingly expected to do, will be elected for five years only. This will be the most significant political reform the country will have undertaken since the present Constitution of the Fifth Republic was adopted in 1958.

Tailor-made for France's indomitable post-war President Gen. Charles de Gaulle, it gave the country a strong executive with sweeping powers. Parliament was then seen as a pliant Presidential appendage and was elected for a five-year term. It was assumed that the towering personality of the President would automatically translate itself into a parliamentary majority for his political family.

But in recent years, the French have played cannily at what has come to be known as co-habitation, where the country's Head of State and Head of Government belong to opposing political families. Since the Presidential and parliamentary terms do not coincide, the French electorate can judge and sanction a President's performance two years into his mandate by electing a majority hostile to him. They can similarly sanction the ruling coalition by electing a President from the other side of the political spectrum. The President is then obliged to govern with a Prime Minister who does not necessarily share his views or concerns. This can become awkward. For under the Constitution the President is described as being the guarantor of the Constitution while the Prime Minister is expected to run the country.

Traditionally, foreign affairs and defence are said to be the President's exclusive preserve. However, the Constitution does not spell this out. Hence the fuss and consternation recently when the Prime Minister, Mr. Lionel Jospin on a visit to West Asia, took an independent line on the Hizbollah's terrorist acts. The announcement of a five-year term is a significant climb down for Mr. Chirac, who, less than a year ago, had ruled out any changes in the Presidential mandate.

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