Mitterrand again selected a prime minister from the right, and when presidential elections occurred again in 1995, a rightist candidate, Jacques Chirac, won the presidency. Currently, both president and prime minister are from the right. The ministers that make up the cabinet may come from the National Assembly, the bureaucracy, or from outside the government, particularly from the business world. They head complex ministries that often combine diverse areas, such as the current Ministry for Postal Service, Telecommunications, and Space. Senators are selected by an electoral college of small-town mayors, and tends to represent small town, rural interests.
Senators serve for nine year terms, and have almost no powers except to delay legislation.
Many attempts to reform the Senate into a viable political body have failed, and it remains a body with little policy making power. The strength of the assembly lies in the general popular support that individuals have for their deputies. Public confidence in them has been far stronger than in the parties that organize them. During the Third and Fourth Republics, the National Assembly held the most important policy making power and regularly overturned governments that did not follow their wishes. The most important powers of the Assembly are the enactments of laws and the ability to censure the government.