1969 French constitutional referendum

27 April 1969 (1969-04-27)
Do you approve of the bill submitted to the French people by the President of the Republic and relating to the creation of regions and the reform of the Senate?
Outcome	The constitutional amendments are rejected. PresidentCharles de Gaulle resigns.
Results
Choice Votes % Yes 10,901,753 47.59% No 12,007,102 52.41% Valid votes 22,908,855 97.27% Invalid or blank votes 643,756 2.73% Total votes 23,552,611 100.00% Registered voters/turnout 29,392,390 80.13%
Results by department

A constitutional referendum was held inFrance on 27 April 1969.^[1] The referendum proposed governmentdecentralization and changes to theSenate. These reforms were rejected by 52.4% of voters, leading toPresidentCharles de Gaulle's resignation.

The first part of the project aimed to classify the existence ofregions in the constitution asterritorial collectivities. That would affect the regionalcirconscriptions created in 1960, andCorsica.

The Region's jurisdiction would be enlarged, primarily with taking control of public utilities, housing and urbanization. In order to exercise these new powers, the Region would be able to borrow money, enter into contracts, create, manage or grant public organizations and enter into agreements with other Regions.

The Regional Councils would be composed of:

• three-fifths elected regionaldéputés (deputies) and territorial regional councillors, elected by theGeneral Councils (one perdepartment, for three years) and by the municipal councils or theirdélégués, for six years;
• two-fifths regional councillors, designated by representative agencies, for six years.

Special arrangements would be taken for theParisian Region,Corsica and theoverseas departments.

The second part of the project would combine theSenate and theEconomic and Social Council into one new Senate having a consultative function and no blocking power.The necessity of a second consultativehouse representing theterritorial collectivities and economic, familial and intellectual organizations had been announced byde Gaulle in hisBayeux speech, on 16 June 1946, and mentioned again during hispresidency and toAlain Peyrefitte. The main changes in the role of the Senate would be the following:

• Theacting president of the Republic, in case of incapacity or death of the president, would be thePrime Minister rather than thePresident of the Senate;
• Declaration of war and prorogation of a state of siege would be authorized by theNational Assembly;
• Senators would no longer be able to make new laws;
• Bills of law would first be presented to the Senate, which would be able to propose their adoption, rejection, or amendment, before they are put before the National Assembly; after this, the Government or the National Assembly would be able to send them back to the Senate;
• Constitutional amendments would be passed only by anabsolute majority in the National Assembly before being voted on in a national referendum; they would then be submitted once more to the National Assembly, which would be able finally to ratify them only by a two-thirds majority of its members;
• Senators would no longer be allowed to question the government;
• In matters concerning the High Court of Justice, only a meeting of senators representing Territorial Collectivities would have a role (with the National Assembly), rather than the Senate.

Senators would be elected for six years, with elections held for half the house every three years (as has been the case since 2003). They would have to be over twenty-three, rather than the then minimum age of thirty-five.

The Senate's composition would be the following:

• 173 senators representing territorial collectivities ofmetropolitan France (160) and its overseas territories (DOM: 7,TOM: 6), elected, the regions being the electoral constituencies, by deputies, territorial regional councilors, general councilors and representatives of the municipal councils;
• 4 senators representing French citizens residing abroad, appointed by theHigh Council of French Citizens Abroad;
• 146 senators representing economic, social and cultural activities, appointed by representative agencies:
  • 42 senators for the working-class;
  • 30 for farmers;
  • 36 for businesses;
  • 10 for families;
  • 8 for accredited professionals;
  • 8 for higher education and research;
  • 12 for social and cultural activities.

PresidentCharles de Gaulle threatened to resign if the reforms were refused. The opposition urged people to vote no, and the president was equally hindered by popular former right-wing prime ministerGeorges Pompidou, who would stand as a presidential candidate if de Gaulle were to leave, reducing the fear of apower vacuum felt by the right-wing Gaullist electorate. Former finance ministerValéry Giscard d'Estaing also announced that he would not vote in favour of the reforms. Only theUnion of Democrats for the Republic campaigned for a yes.^{[citation needed]}

Following the referendum's failure, de Gaulle announced his resignation as intended on 28 April 1969, at ten past midnight, and released a laconic statement fromColombey-les-Deux-Églises:

I will cease to exercise my functions as president of the Republic. This decision will take effect today at midday.^[2]

Alain Poher,president of the Senate, became acting president. De Gaulle's resignation triggered the1969 presidential election, which was won byGeorges Pompidou.

• Referendums in France
• Constitutional amendments
• 1969 referendums
• 1969 in France
• 1969 elections in France
• Decentralization
• Constitutional referendums in France
• Presidency of Charles de Gaulle

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