[3] The Fifth Republic has received various criticisms from some politicians and scholars, such as maintaining a poor or incorrect delineation of powers between the presidency and the legislature, with some describing the system as a presidential monarchy or as hyperpresidential.
Despite having retired from politics a decade earlier, Charles de Gaulle, placed himself in the midst of the crisis when he called on the nation to suspend the government and create a new constitution.
[3] François Mitterrand was initially a leading critic of the establishment of the Fifth Republic, likening it to the 1851 French coup d'état by Louis Napoléon Bonaparte.
[4] In 1992, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Marie-Noëlle Lienemann and Julien Dray founded the Convention for the 6th Republic[note 1], a group within the Socialist Party (PS) advocating for constitutional reform.
[10] In the 2002 presidential election, part of Christiane Taubira's platform included support for a Sixth Republic, emphasising that it should decentralise power to French territories, and that it should abolish the position of Prime Minister.
Both Mélenchon, as well as Éric Coquerel Coordinator of PG stated that support for a new republic couldn't come from any singular party, but had to build up broad consensus[13][14][15] In the leadup to the 2017 presidential election, Mélenchon running under his new La France Insoumise (LFI) and endorsed by PG, held a march for the Sixth Republic in Paris during his campaign.
[18] For the 2022 legislative election, the New Ecological and Social People's Union (NUPES) was formed as a joint left-wing slate of candidates between parties such as the PS and LFI.
Mélenchon, the founder of LFI, was considered a leading figure within NUPES, and support for a Sixth Republic was included on the alliance's platform.