how can the executive govern without a majority?

In order to maintain a majority in the National Assembly, “Emmanuel Macron will have to look at his opponents, starting with Les Républicains (…) if he wants to pass texts, he will have to turn to them”, says Cyril Graziani, head of the political department of France Télévisions, present on the set of 19/20, Monday June 13. The Republicans, who emerge weakened from these legislative elections, could win 50 to 80 seats in the National Assembly on Sunday June 19, the date of the second round.

What room for maneuver does the executive without a majority have? “The Constitution offers some mechanisms: an alternative would be to govern in a minority. Michel Rocard at Matignon from 1988 to 1991 had done so after the re-election of François Mitterrand”, explains Cyril Graziani. At the time, he had used article 49.3, which allows the government to have a text adopted in force, 28 times. However, “since 2008, the use of 49.3 has been severely restricted: it can only apply to budgets and one piece of legislation per parliamentary session”concludes the journalist.