an France--22 regions (regions,
singular--region); Alsace, Aquitaine, Auvergne, Basse-Normandie, Bourgogne,
Bretagne, Centre, Champagne-Ardenne, Corse, Franche-Comte, Haute-Normandie,
Ile-de-France, Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin, Lorraine, Midi-Pyrenees,
Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Pays de la Loire, Picardie, Poitou-Charentes,
Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, Rhone-Alpes; note--the 22 regions are subdivided
into 96 departments; see separate entries for the overseas departments
(French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Reunion) and the territorial
collectivities (Mayotte, St. Pierre and Miquelon)

Dependent areas: Bassas da India, Clipperton Island, Europa Island,
French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Glorioso Islands,
Juan de Nova Island, New Caledonia, Tromelin Island, Wallis and Futuna

Independence: unified by Clovis in 486, First Republic proclaimed in 1792

Constitution: 28 September 1958, amended concerning election of
president in 1962

Legal system: civil law system with indigenous concepts; review of
administrative but not legislative acts

National holiday: Taking of the Bastille, 14 July (1789)

Executive branch: president, prime minister, Council of Ministers
(cabinet)

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament (Parlement) consists of an
upper house or Senate (Senat) and a lower house or National Assembly
(Assemblee Nationale)

Judicial branch: Court of Cassation (Cour de Cassation)

Leaders:
Chief of State--President Francois MITTERRAND (since 21 May 1981);

Head of Government--Prime Minister Michel ROCARD (since 10 March 1988)

Political parties and leaders: Rally for the Republic (RPR, formerly UDR),
Jacques Chirac; Union for French Democracy (UDF, federation of PR, CDS, and
RAD), Valery Giscard d'Estaing; Republicans (PR), Francois Leotard;
Center for Social Democrats (CDS), Pierre Mehaignerie; Radical
(RAD), Yves Gallard; Socialist Party (PS), Pierre Mauroy; Left Radical
Movement (MRG), Yves Collin; Communist Party (PCF), Georges
Marchais; National Front (FN), Jean-Marie Le Pen

Suffrage: universal at age 18

Elections:
President--last held 8 May 1988 (next to be held May 1995);
results--Second Ballot Francois Mitterrand 54%, Jacques Chirac 46%;

Senate--last held 24 September 1989 (next to be held September
1992); results--percent of vote by party NA;
seats--(321 total; 296 metropolitan France, 13 for overseas departments
and territories, and 12 for French nationals abroad) RPR 93,