Sébastien Lecornu's resignation made a splash in the French news, but it's only a symptom. Since the June 2024 legislative elections, France has experienced unprecedented governmental instability under the Fifth Republic, marked by a rapid succession of prime ministers forced to resign. Each new government faces a fragmented Assembly without an absolute majority, where any blockage becomes a methodical art of paralysis.

Gabriel Attal, appointed in January 2024, led the government until the June snap legislative elections, called by Emmanuel Macron after a series of deadlocks in the National Assembly. The election produced a fragmented National Assembly dominated by three blocs: the left, the far right, and a weakened center. On July 16, 2024, Attal resigned after the presidential camp failed to secure a majority, leaving behind a caretaker management style but no ability to drive a lasting vision.

Michel Barnier, former European Commissioner, was called upon in September 2024 to form a coalition project with the occasional support of the right and the center. But by the fall, the finance bill was rejected, and a motion of censure tabled by a temporary alliance between the left and the far right was adopted on December 13, 2024, leading to the fall of the Barnier government under Article 49, paragraph 2 of the Constitution.

François Bayrou, a centrist figure close to the president, took over in December 2024, attempting to stabilize the executive through dialogue with parliamentary groups. Without a formal majority, he requested a vote of confidence in September 2025 under Article 49, paragraph 1. Against all expectations, this vote was rejected, leading to his immediate resignation. This is the first time under the Fifth Republic that a Prime Minister has been ousted by a negative vote of confidence.

Finally, Sébastien Lecornu, Minister of the Armed Forces who became Prime Minister in September 2025, attempted to form a technical government focused on budgetary and institutional reforms. But in the first weeks, he faced internal opposition, refusals to vote on key texts, and the threat of a new motion of censure. Faced with the impossibility of governing, he submitted his resignation on October 6, 2025, after less than a month in office.

From Paris, the political spectacle unfolds before our eyes with an intensity not seen in Dakar. Representative democracy, supposed to regulate power, seems to be transforming into an instrument of systematic blockage. Here, parliamentary debates not only control the executive, but stifle it. Every vote, every motion, and every resignation becomes a symptom of a country ungovernable until 2027.

For a Senegalese reader, the contrast is striking. Where Dakar is moving forward, groping, but managing to maintain a relative balance between reforms and governance, Paris seems trapped by its institutions. Economic, social, and institutional reforms remain suspended, while civil society and the markets observe the slowness of decision-making and the inertia of governments.

Lecornu's resignation is therefore not the story of one man, but of a system caught between its rules and the reality on the ground. The current parliamentary impasse raises a major question: does French democracy still protect the state or is it suffocating it in a vice of polarization and refusal to compromise?