This article describes the origins and historical development of the current French state. For information on its organization and structure, see Politics of France.
The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the Fourth Republic, replacing the former parliamentary republic with a semi-presidential (or dual-executive) system[2] that split powers between a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of government.[3]Charles de Gaulle, who was the first French president elected under the Fifth Republic in December 1958, believed in a strong head of state, which he described as embodying l'esprit de la nation ("the spirit of the nation").[4] Under the Fifth Republic, the president has the right to dissolve the national assembly and hold new parliamentary elections. If the president has a majority in the national assembly, the president sets domestic policy and the prime minister puts it into practice. During a presidential mandate, the president can also change prime ministers and reshuffle the government. If there is a different majority in the national assembly, the president is forced to nominate a prime minister from a different party, which is called a cohabitation. In the beginning of the Fifth Republic, presidential elections were held every seventh year and parliamentary elections every fifth year. Starting in the year 2002, the presidential elections (in April) and parliamentary elections (in June) were synchronized to be held every fifth year, which ended in the 2024 French snap election.
The Fourth Republic had suffered from a lack of political consensus, a weak executive, and governments forming and falling in quick succession since 1946. With no party or coalition able to sustain a parliamentary majority, prime ministers found themselves unable to risk their political position with unpopular reforms.[5][pageneeded]
Further complications came when a section of the French Army rebelled and openly backed the Algérie française movement to defeat separation.[6][pageneeded]Charles de Gaulle, who had retired from politics a decade before, placed himself in the midst of the crisis, calling on the nation to suspend the government and create a new constitutional system. The parliament was unable to choose a government amid popular protest, and De Gaulle was carried to power when the last parliament of the Fourth Republic voted for its own dissolution and the convening of a constitutional convention.[7]
Transitional period
De Gaulle and his supporters proposed a system of strong presidents elected for seven-year terms. The president, under the proposed constitution, would have executive powers to run the country in consultation with a prime minister whom he would appoint. On 1 June 1958, Charles de Gaulle was appointed head of the government;[8] on 3 June 1958, a constitutional law empowered the new government to draft a new constitution of France,[1] and another law granted Charles de Gaulle and his cabinet the power to rule by decree for up to six months, except on matters of criminal law, electoral law, matters related to the basic rights and freedoms of citizens, and the activities of trade unions.[9] These plans were approved by more than 80% of those who voted in the referendum of 28 September 1958.[10] The new constitution was signed into law on 4 October 1958.[11] Since each new constitution established a new republic, France moved from the Fourth to the Fifth Republic.
The new constitution contained transitional clauses (articles 90–92) extending the period of rule by decree until the new institutions were operating. René Coty remained president of the Republic until the new president was proclaimed. On 21 December 1958, Charles de Gaulle was elected president of France by an electoral college.[12] The provisional constitutional commission, acting in lieu of the constitutional council, proclaimed the results of the election on 9 January 1959. The new president began his office on that date, appointing Michel Debré as prime minister.
The 1958 constitution also replaced the French Union with the French Community, which allowed fourteen member territories (excluding Algeria) to assert their independence.[13] 1960 became known as the "Year of Africa" because of this wave of newly independent states.[14]Algeria became independent on 5 July 1962.
Evolution
Election of the president
The president was initially elected by an electoral college but in 1962 de Gaulle proposed that the president be directly elected by the citizens and held a referendum on the change. Although the method and intent of de Gaulle in that referendum were contested by most political groups except for the Gaullists, the change was approved by the French electorate.[15] The Constitutional Council declined to rule on the constitutionality of the referendum.[16]
The president is now elected every five years, changed from seven by a constitutional referendum in 2000, to reduce the probability of cohabitation due to former differences in the length of terms for the National Assembly and presidency. The president is elected in one or two rounds of voting: if one candidate gets a majority of votes in the first round that person is president-elect; if no one gets a majority in the first round, the two candidates with the greatest number of votes go to a second round.
Separation of powers
Two major changes occurred in the 1970s regarding constitutional checks and balances.[17] Traditionally, France operated according to parliamentary supremacy: no authority was empowered to rule on whether statutes passed by Parliament respected the constitutional rights of the citizens.[18] In 1971, however, the Constitutional Council, arguing that the preamble of the constitution referenced the rights defined in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the preamble of the 1946 constitution, concluded that statutes must respect these rights and so declared partially unconstitutional a statute because it violated freedom of association.[19]
Only the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, or the president of either house of Parliament could ask for a constitutional review before a statute was signed into law—which greatly reduces the likelihood of such a review if all these officeholders happened to be from the same side of politics, which was the case at the time. Then in 1974, a constitutional amendment widened this prerogative to 60 members of the National Assembly or 60 members of the senate.[20] From that date, the opposition has been able to have controversial new statutes examined for constitutionality.[21]
↑In addition to .fr, several other Internet TLDs are used in French overseas départements and territories: .re, .mq, .gp, .tf, .nc, .pf, .wf, .pm, .gf and .yt. France also uses .eu, shared with other members of the European Union. The .cat domain is used in Catalan-speaking territories.
↑René Coty, the last president of the Fourth Republic, served briefly in a transitional capacity between the promulgation of the Constitution and the election of de Gaulle as the "proper" first president of the fifth Republic.
↑As of October 6, 2025, Lecornu is still serving as prime minister in a demissionary capacity despite announcing his resignation.
↑Lessig, Lawrence (1993). "The Path of the Presidency". East European Constitutional Review. Fall 1993 / Winter 1994 (2/3): 104 – via Chicago Unbound, University of Chicago Law School.
↑Constitutional Council, ProclamationArchived 21 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine of the results of the 28 October 1962 referendum on the bill related to the election of the President of the Republic by universal suffrage
↑Morton, F. L. (Winter 1988). "Judicial Review in France: A Comparative Analysis". American Journal of Comparative Law. 36 (1): 89–110. doi:10.2307/840185. JSTOR840185.
↑Letourneur, M.; Drago, R. (Spring 1958). "The Rule of Law as Understood in France". The American Journal of Comparative Law. 7 (2): 147–177. doi:10.2307/837562. JSTOR837562.
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Kulski, W. W. De Gaulle and the World: The Foreign Policy of the Fifth French Republic (1966) online free to borrow
Lewis-Beck, Michael S., et al. eds. French Presidential Elections (Palgrave Macmillan; 2012)
Nester, William R. De Gaulle's Legacy: The Art of Power in France's Fifth Republic (2014)
Praud, Jocelyne and Sandrine Dauphin, eds. Parity Democracy: Women's Political Representation in Fifth Republic France (2011)
Raymond, Gino G., The French Communist Party During Fifth Republic: A Crisis of Leadership and Ideology. (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005)
Rogoff, Martin A. French Constitutional Law: Cases and Materials (Durham, Carolina Academic Press, 2010.
Short, Philip. Mitterrand: A Study in Ambiguity (2013)
Thody, Philip. The Fifth French Republic: Presidents, Politics and Personalities: A Study of French Political Culture (1998) excerpt and text search
Wall, Irwin. France Votes: The Election of François Hollande (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.)
Williams, Charles. The Last Great Frenchman: A Life of General De Gaulle (1997)
Mayaffre, Damon (2012). Le Discours présidentiel sous la Ve République. Chirac, Mitterrand, Giscard, Pompidou, de Gaulle (in French). Paris: Presses de Sciences Po. ISBN978-2724612448.
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