This article describes the origins and historical development of the current French state. For information on its organization and structure, seePolitics of France.
The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of theFourth Republic, replacing the formerparliamentary republic with asemi-presidential (or dual-executive) system[2] that split powers between apresident ashead of state and aprime minister ashead of government.[3]Charles de Gaulle, who was thefirst French president elected under the Fifth Republic in December 1958, believed in a strong head of state, which he described as embodyingl'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 acohabitation. 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, thepresidential elections (in April) andparliamentary elections (in June) were synchronized to be held every fifth year, which ended in the2024 French snap election.
TheFourth 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][page needed]
Further complications came when a section of theFrench Army rebelled and openly backed theAlgérie française movement to defeat separation.[6][page needed]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]
De Gaulle and his supporters proposed a system of strongpresidents elected for seven-year terms. The president, under the proposed constitution, would have executive powers to run the country in consultation with aprime minister whom he would appoint. On 1 June 1958, Charles de Gaulle was appointedhead of the government;[8] on 3 June 1958, a constitutional law empowered the new government to draft a newconstitution of France,[1] and another law granted Charles de Gaulle and his cabinet the power torule 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 inthe 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 electedpresident of France by anelectoral college.[12] The provisional constitutional commission, acting in lieu of theconstitutional council, proclaimed the results of the election on 9 January 1959. The new president began his office on that date, appointingMichel Debré as prime minister.
The 1958 constitution also replaced the French Union with theFrench 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.
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 theGaullists, 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 bya constitutional referendum in 2000, to reduce the probability ofcohabitation due to former differences in the length of terms for theNational Assembly and presidency. The president is elected inone 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 amajority in the first round, the two candidates with the greatest number of votes go to a second round.
Two major changes occurred in the 1970s regarding constitutionalchecks and balances.[17] Traditionally, France operated according toparliamentary supremacy: no authority was empowered to rule on whether statutes passed by Parliament respected the constitutional rights of the citizens.[18] In 1971, however, theConstitutional Council, arguing that thepreamble of the constitution referenced the rights defined in the 1789Declaration 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 violatedfreedom 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 reviewbefore 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, aconstitutional amendment widened this prerogative to 60 members of theNational Assembly or 60 members of thesenate.[20] From that date, the opposition has been able to have controversial new statutes examined for constitutionality.[21]
^René Coty, the last president of theFourth 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 theWayback 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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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)
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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 deSciences Po.ISBN978-2724612448.
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