Why does France have to hold four elections in a year? It seems that'd be kind of annoying and not good for turnout, why not just have one for the first round of the presidential and legislative and then one for the second round of presidential and legislative?
Two reasons, I think:
-Technically, the legislatives were not intended to always land on the same year as the presidentielle. That became only the case once the presidential term was reduced to five years.
-In Europe the concept of a single person controlling executive and legislative authority is widely accepted. Let France be the example: the presidential election is what really matters, in which the quasi-monarch is elected. The legislative election follows not because it is a serious contest, but because it legitimates the president's power. The president's party is supposed to win the legislatives. If the elections were held at the same time, you could have a president facing an opposition parliament -
which would be awkward indeed.In the US the executive and legislative are supposed to be divided, which is why the timing of the elections means less. Ideally one type of election should not affect the other anyway.
