1965 French presidential election 1965 French presidential election The 1965 French presidential election, held on 5 December and 19 December, was the first direct presidential election in the Fifth Republic and the first since the Second Republic in 1848. It had been widely expected that incumbent president Charles de Gaulle would be re-elected, but the election was notable for the unexpectedly strong performance of his left-wing challenger François Mitterrand. This was the second presidential election since the beginning of the Fifth Republic. Under the first draft of the 1958 constitution, the president was elected by an electoral college, in order to appease concerns about
Constitutional amendments under the French Fifth Republic beginning of the French Fifth Republic, revisions have been adopted without using section 89. Unless otherwise stated, the provisions of the constitutional laws come into force on the date of enactment. However, some recent constitutional laws have provided a delayed effective date. The material content of the Constitution, in these cases, changes on different dates from those of other enactments of constitutional laws. For example, the constitution act of 23 July 2008 provides in article 46 that some sections of the reform are effective on and others "under the conditions established by law and necessary for their implementing organic laws"