The institutional nature of the parliamentarian Fourth Republic has been described as a source of political instability by historians and jurists.

[1][2] The proportional voting system of the 1946 legislative election led to a "tripartisme" dominated by the Communists, the Socialists and the Popular Republican Movement, that ended up with the step down of communist ministers from the government in 1947.

This system was intended to give a stable majority to the government, as well as to reduce the influence of the Communist Party and the Rally of the French People in the parliament.

[4] The Constitution of 1946, adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 29 September 1946 and approved by referendum on 13 October 1946,[5] led to the creation of a new bicameral parliament.

The lower house, named Chamber of Deputies under the Third Republic, became the National Assembly.