Cumul Des Mandats in the French 5th Republic

Cumul Des Mandats in the French 5th Republic

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Introduction

The cumul des mandats, which translates literally as the accumulation of mandates, is a political practice that is equivalent to the dual mandate and is especially commonplace in French politics. This political system involves politicians holding more than one elective post at European, national, regional, and local government levels as senators, MPs, mayors, General Council presidents, and MEPs (Steyvers & Verhelst, 2012: p9). Indeed, it is possible for a French politician to hold up to four positions, although they cannot hold more than one position at the same level of government, such as being both a senator and an MP. This political practice has proven controversial in France, especially as it is viewed as fostering cronyism and absenteeism. A closer look at the administrative and political architecture of France, at both the national and local level, shows that decision-making power is highly concentrated, which has been identified as one of the main causes of multiple elective-office holding. Currently, there are over 500,000 elected officials who hold more than one office at local and national level. The practice is evidently deeply rooted in the French system of institutions (Steyvers & Verhelst, 2012: p9). This paper seeks to establish the nature of cumul des mandats, as well as its effects on democracy and on politicians.

Cumul Des Mandats

In defining cumul des mandats, Bell & Gaffney (2013: p32) propose three alternative starting points in defining cumul des mandats, one possibility of which is to focus on various legal rules and provisions that relate to incompatibilities between different mandates, eligibility, and exercising public functions. In majority of countries that allow multiple elective-office holding, including France, there are incompatibilities and restrictions that regulate an individual’s holding of different offices officially. A second...