by Kurt Zindulka
Two-thirds of the people of France would support the end of the Fifth Republic, as the government of President Emmanuel Macron continues to fail to restore social order in the country.
While the streets of France have descended into scenes similar to those seen in violent revolutions not witnessed in supposedly stable Western European countries for some time, the French public is apparently prepared to back a political revolution of their own, with a majority supporting the abolition of the republic that has governed the country since 1958, the fifth such republic since the violent revolution which abolished the Bourbon Monarchy in 1792.
The Fifth Republic, ushered in by Charles de Gaulle, is the second-longest lasting republic in France since the Third Republic, which was formed following the fall of Emperor Napoleon III in 1870. Yet, despite its relative longevity, increasing political instability and a growing sense of division between the public and political elites in Paris have apparently soured the people on the Fifth Republic.
According to a survey conducted by Ifop and Fiducial, found that 67 per cent of the public would support the formation of a Sixth Republic with a new constitution based upon a parliamentary system and proportional representation, compared to just 33 per cent who would oppose the fundamentally revolutionary move.
With the departure of the United Kingdom, France currently stands alone in the European Union as the only country to not have some form of proportional representation, using a system that makes it more difficult for parties outside of the established mainstream to wield parliamentary power. This appears to have had the effect of leaving millions of French men and women feeling as though their voices are ignored by the capital ruling elite.