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21-612: The Plural Left government initiated several reforms, including the CMU social welfare program for indigents, the PACS civil union law, the 35 hours workweek , the creation of the FNAEG DNA database, but also several privatizations ( France Télécom , GAN , Thomson Multimédia , Air France , Eramet , Aérospatiale , Autoroutes du sud de la France ). It also passed the SRU Law forcing each commune to have

42-553: A Common Program (1972). But the policy of Socialist leader François Mitterrand , elected President of France in 1981, did not correspond exactly to this programme, notably since 1983. One year later, the Communist ministers resigned. After that, the "Union of Left" was only a circumstantial electoral alliance. After Mitterrand's re-election in 1988 , the PS and the Left-wing radicals obtained

63-609: A 20% quota of housing projects , the 15 June 2000 Guigou law on presumption of innocence , the Taubira Law recognizing slavery as a crime against humanity , and the LSQ law concerning security. Furthermore, Jospin's government carried out a partial regularization of undocumented immigrants . During the 1970s, the PS, the PCF and the Left-wing Radicals formed the "Union of Left" based on

84-572: A coalition called the "Plural Left". The name was founded by the Socialist politician Jean-Christophe Cambadélis . It meant the PS wanted to respect its allies and not to impose its hegemony, what the other parties reproached it. In 1997, President Chirac dissolved the French National Assembly before the expected end of term in 1998. Much to his surprise, the left won the legislative election . Chirac's then advisor, Dominique de Villepin ,

105-458: A relative parliamentary majority. However, the PCF chose to support the government only issue-to-issue. Consequently, the PS tried an alliance with the center-right which ultimately failed. Due to its electoral disaster in 1993 . new PS leader, former Prime Minister Michel Rocard , called for a political "big-bang", a new attempt of to transcend the traditional Left-Right divide in French politics. This

126-521: Is rumoured to have been behind the move. The decision surprised many: although it was the fourth dissolution from a directly-elected President, it was most importantly the first one for no given reason - inspired perhaps by the Westminster tradition. The left-wing parties were: The French MPs were elected within 577 single-winner districts through a two-round system . Tactically, it is near to impossible to win without multiple-party agreements, except when

147-874: The French social security program concerning health care, which was implemented in January 2000 ( loi n 99-641 du 27 juillet 1999 ). It was drafted by Prime Minister Lionel Jospin 's leftist government in 1999, on the initiative of Minister of Social Affairs and Employment Martine Aubry . In compliance with this program, medical expenses are reimbursed to all people who have been legally residing in France for over 3 months, whereas illegal aliens are entitled to State medical aid ( aide médicale d'État , abbreviated as "AME"). An investigation completed in 2006 by non-governmental organization Médecins du Monde showed that approximately 10% of French physicians refused to treat patients covered by

168-729: The fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the USSR , Hue campaigned on broadening the PCF's electoral base. This was part of a larger strategy addressing the PCF's ongoing electoral decline—following the split of the European Communist bloc from the Soviet Union in the 1970s the French Communist Party had entered a period of electoral decline, its electoral vote totals being reduced by half. The Greens, founded in 1984, benefited from

189-528: The "Plural Left" voted for the Trotskyist candidates ( Arlette Laguiller , Olivier Besancenot , Daniel Gluckstein ). All the left-wing parties were represented by their candidates. In the first round, Jospin (PS) obtained 16.2%, Chevènement (MDC) 5.3%, Noël Mamère (the Greens) 5.2%, Hue (PCF) 3.4%, Christiane Taubira (PRG) 2.3%. Arriving in third position, Jospin was eliminated and no left-wing candidate contested

210-651: The "Plural left" obtained the majority of the seats; however the Socialists needed its allies to form a majority. For the first time, the ecologists were represented in the Parliament. The participation of the National Front 's candidates in the second round increased the defeat of the presidential majority. This was the first time since 1877 that a President of France lost a legislative election that he had called. The Socialist leader Lionel Jospin became Prime Minister of

231-499: The "Republicans" and founded a new left-wing party, the Citizen and Republican Movement ( Mouvement républicain et citoyen or MRC). After an attempt to ally with a part of the far-left, the Greens returned finally in the parliamentary left. Couverture maladie universelle The French Universal Health Coverage ( French : Couverture maladie universelle , abbreviated as " CMU ") is

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252-688: The CMU, while 40% refused to treat patients covered by the AME. 1997 French legislative election Alain Juppé Lionel Jospin PS Legislative elections were held in France on 25 May and 1 June 1997 to elect the 11th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic . It was the consequence of President Jacques Chirac 's decision to call the legislative election one year before

273-447: The PS crisis at the beginning of the 1990s. However, their leader Antoine Waechter refused to integrate the party in the left/right cleavage. Without allies, the Greens were unable to gain seats and enter government. In 1993, Dominique Voynet , who favoured an alliance with the left-wing parties, replaced Waechter. Jospin lost the second round of the presidential election, but obtained a respectable result. The 5 left-wing parties formed

294-507: The President's party can draw a large support. There was little to no platform agreement The final results: The balance of power was clear: Socialists were the driving force, and their lack of cohesion might be fixed by the other parties. Jospin became prime minister. On May 14, he announced that the political balance of power would be the same of the first-round results. In his government, not counting secretaries of state (the third tier in

315-575: The deadline. In March 1993 the right won a large victory in the legislative election and a comfortable parliamentary majority. Two years later, the RPR leader Jacques Chirac was elected President of France promising to reduce the "social fracture". However, the programme of welfare reforms ("Plan Juppé") proposed by his Prime Minister Alain Juppé caused a social crisis in November and December 1995. The popularity of

336-772: The executive duo decreased. In spring 1997 President Chirac tried to take the left-wing opposition by surprise by dissolving the National Assembly. The first opinion polls indicated a re-election of the right-wing majority. The " Plural Left " coalition, composed of the Socialists , the Communists , the Greens , the Citizens' Movement , and the Left Radicals , proposed a program of social reforms to reduce unemployment and legislation to limit

357-567: The hierarchy), there were: In 2000, Jean-Pierre Chevènement resigned because of his opposition to negotiations with the nationalists of Corsica . Preparing his candidacy for the 2002 presidential election , he criticized the governmental policy and proposed to rally the "Republicans of the left and the right". In 2001, the economic growth slowed. The Communists and some Greens criticized the government's moderate economic policy. The Economy ministers, Dominique Strauss-Kahn and later Laurent Fabius , were accused of being social liberals because of

378-422: The length of the work week to 35 hours. Prime Minister Juppé's unpopularity, as well as the unpopularity of his government's policies, contributed to the left's triumph. In the first round, the left-wing coalition obtained more votes than the incumbent parliamentary majority. After he was blamed for the situation, Juppé announced he would resign even if the right kept their majority in the runoff vote. For all that,

399-435: The privatisation of public companies. They claimed no main social reforms were done after the reduction of working time to 35 hours . The parliamentary majority was divided about the law to restrict the dismissals. The presidential campaign focused on an alleged insecurity problem. In contrast to the right, the left-wing coalition was divided about this problem and had not a clear policy. Finally, those who were disappointed by

420-435: The second round, leaving space for far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen . Two months later, the left lost the 2002 legislative elections . In consequence, Jospin announced his political retirement. Hue stepped down the head of the PCF, replaced by Marie-George Buffet who attempted to continue the PCF's policy of opening towards social movements, including the alter-globalization movement. Chevènement failed to rally all

441-497: Was generally seen as unsuccessful. Rocard resigned the leadership of the PS after its loss in the 1994 European Parliament election . The PS contested the 1995 presidential election , but was not in a position to win without electoral alliances. Its candidate Lionel Jospin was supported by the PRG and the MDC. In 1994, Robert Hue succeeded Georges Marchais as head of the PCF. Responding to

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