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 Czech Republic Czech Republic intended to set up a parliamentary system, with the Prime Minister as the country's leading political figure and "de facto" chief executive and the president as a ceremonial head of state. However, the stature of the first president, Václav Havel, was such that the office acquired greater influence than the framers intended. The President of the Czech Republic has the authority to act independently in a number of substantive areas. One of the office's strongest powers is that of veto, which returns a bill to parliament. Although the veto may be overridden by parliament, the ability to refuse