French presidential elections under the Fifth Republic
There have been eleven presidential elections in France since the establishment of the Fifth Republic in 1958.
Originally the president was elected by the Collège des Notables (an assembly of "notable electors") that included around 80,000 county and city/town councillors (who had been elected locally).[1]
Following constitutional reform in November 1962 (the constitutional Act of 6 November), pushed by President de Gaulle, the president has been directly elected by the people of France in a two-round election.[2]
Until a 24 September 2000 constitutional referendum, the president had been elected for a seven-year term since 1974. With the referendum being successful, the term was reduced to five years. Therefore, once the winner of the 2002 election, Jacques Chirac, took office as president, the next election was scheduled for 2007 rather than 2009.[2]
Currently, the President of the French Republic is elected to a five-year term in a two-round election under Article 7 of the Constitution: if no candidate secures an absolute majority (including blank and void ballots) of votes in the first round, a second round is held two weeks later between the two candidates who received the most votes.[3] Since 1965, when the current (direct) election system was introduced, every election has gone to a second round.[4]
The latest election was in 2022. The first round was held on 10 April 2022, the second on 24 April.
List of elections under the Fifth Republic
- 1958 French presidential election: indirect suffrage (president elected by elected officials only): Charles de Gaulle elected
- 1965 French presidential election: President de Gaulle defeats François Mitterrand in second round
- 1969 French presidential election: Georges Pompidou defeats Alain Poher in second round
- 1974 French presidential election: Valéry Giscard d'Estaing defeats François Mitterrand in second round
- 1981 French presidential election: François Mitterrand defeats President Giscard d'Estaing in second round
- 1988 French presidential election: President Mitterrand defeats Jacques Chirac in second round
- 1995 French presidential election: Jacques Chirac defeats Lionel Jospin in second round
- 2002 French presidential election: President Chirac defeats Jean-Marie Le Pen in second round
- 2007 French presidential election: Nicolas Sarkozy defeats Ségolène Royal in second round
- 2012 French presidential election: François Hollande defeats President Sarkozy in second round
- 2017 French presidential election: Emmanuel Macron defeats Marine Le Pen in second round
- 2022 French presidential election: President Macron defeats Marine Le Pen in the second round
References
- ^ Philip Thody (1989). French Caesarism from Napoleon I to Charles de Gaulle. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 105–. ISBN 978-1-349-20089-4.
- ^ a b Susana Galera (1 January 2010). Judicial Review: A Comparative Analysis Inside the European Legal System. Council of Europe. pp. 71–. ISBN 978-92-871-6723-1.
- ^ "Constitution du 4 octobre 1958 - Article 7". Légifrance. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
- ^ William G. Mayer (2004). The Making of the Presidential Candidates 2004. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 266–. ISBN 978-0-7425-2919-9.
direct vote France since 1965.