French Fifth Republic members of the Senate. From that date, the opposition has been able to have controversial new statutes examined for constitutionality. Source: Source: French Fifth Republic The Fifth Republic, France's current republican system of government, was established by Charles de Gaulle under the Constitution of the Fifth Republic on 4 October 1958. The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the Fourth Republic, replacing the former parliamentary republic with a semi-presidential, or dual-executive, system that split powers between a Prime Minister as head of government and a President as head of state. De Gaulle, who was the first French President elected
President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo a semi-presidential republic. The president is protected by the Republican Guard. The constitutional mandate of the current president, Joseph Kabila, was due to expire on 20 December 2016 but was extended by him until the end of 2017. The semi-presidential system established by the constitution is largely borrowed from the French constitution. Although it is the prime minister and parliament that oversee much of the nation's actual lawmaking, the president wields significant influence, both formally and from constitutional convention. The president holds the nation's most senior office, and outranks all other politicians. Perhaps the president's greatest power is his or