The return of former members of the executive to Parliament, a practice banned by de Gaulle

Among parliamentary democracies, France, and its 1958 constitution, is, in many aspects, an exception. If today the coming and going of elected officials between the government and Parliament is a normalized practice, in the mind of General de Gaulle, this coming and going was prohibited.

Article 23 of the Constitution provides that “the functions of member of the government are incompatible with the exercise of any parliamentary mandate”. This incompatibility is a very French specificity.

“For General de Gaulle and within the framework of a renovated and strengthened executive power, the parliamentarian must only have as objective, once appointed to the government, only the general interest above the particular concerns of his constituency, his office of work requiring full and complete devotion to government functions,” explains Sophie Lamouroux in the French Review of Constitutional Law.

Thus, until 2008, when a minister, previously elected deputy, lost his portfolio, he also lost his parliamentary mandate, "there was a total devolution for the benefit of the substitute", specifies Jean-Pierre Camby, professor of constitutional law at the University of Versailles. However, in practice, the rule was often circumvented. The deputy resigning to force the organization of a by-election and allow the minister to regain his seat.

It was ultimately the constitutional revision of 2008 which put an end to the subterfuge. The outgoing minister automatically recovers his seat one month after ceasing his government functions.