President of France to. He was succeeded by Nicolas Sarkozy on 16 May 2007. Following a further change, the constitutional law on the modernisation of the institutions of the Fifth Republic, 2008, a President cannot serve more than two consecutive terms. François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac are the only Presidents to date who have served a full two terms (14 years for the former, 12 years for the latter). In order to be admitted as an official candidate, potential candidates must receive signed nominations (informally known as "parrainages", for "sponsors") from more than 500 elected officials, mostly mayors. These officials must be from
President of France also the duty of abritrating the well-functioning of governmental authorities for efficient service, as the Head of State of France. Since 2002, the mandate of the President and the Assembly are both five years, and the two elections are close to each other. Therefore, the likelihood of a "cohabitation" is lower. Among the powers of the government: All decisions of the President must be countersigned by the Prime Minister, except dissolving the French National Assembly, choice of Prime Minister, dispositions of Article 19. The constitutional attributions of the president are defined in Title II of the Constitution of France. Article