ABSTRACT
As most attentive observers warned, the first real test of the impact of the new electoral laws on the system of political institutions came about with the formation of the parliamentary groups. The free and individual choice of party group, the relative numerical strength of the groups, their ensuing alliances, were all completely unforeseen elements in the transition from a proportional law to a quasi-majoritarian one. The new electoral system's impact on Parliament has been entirely consonant with the law's split personality. A garantiste parliamentary practice stemming from 1976 was gradually developed on the principle of allotting the presidency of one of the chambers of Parliament to a member of the opposition. In the Senate, the series of automatic procedural mechanisms introduced in 1988, which had already established a formal status for the opposition parties in that branch of parliament, continued to develop with a good deal of functional success.
