I appreciate that this is a very specific question, but will appreciate a nod in one direction or another. Any articles known to help with this issue would be a great help! (I'm new to this sub, so if that's against the rules then apologies!)
Petain was the Vichy Regime.
He created it, designed its constitution (that he now had the power to modify at will), had the legislative power and could nominate his own successor.
His ideology was fiercely anti Republican as he saw the Republic as a regime of the weak and advocated for austerity, hard work and family value. He claimed that the defeat was due to French people having become weak since WW1.
He destroyed anything that had any link to the Republic, purged from the system any Republican to put people favorable to his ideas instead.
He had in short all power and could do anything he wanted. Laval even told him once that he actually had more power than the King before the Revolution as there was not even a parliament to contradict him, to which Pétain reponded "C'est vrai." ("It is true.")