French Fifth Republic 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 (these did not include Algeria) to assert their independence. 1960 became known as the "Year of Africa" because of this wave of newly independent states. 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
President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Dominican Republic President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Dominican Republic The President of the Chamber of Deputies is the presiding officer of the Chamber of Deputies. The office of President of the Chamber was established in 1844, although the name is not officially mentioned in the first Dominican constitution, Manuel Maria Valencia served as President of the Congress of Deputies who drafted the constitution He or she is simultaneously the Chamber's presiding officer, but not the leader of the body's majority party, and the institution's administrative head. Presidents also perform various other administrative and procedural functions, and represent their electoral