French presidential elections under the Fifth Republic May. French presidential elections under the Fifth Republic There have been eleven presidential elections in France since the establishment of the Fifth Republic in 1958. Originally the president was elected by the Collège des Notables (an assembly of "notable electors") that included around 80,000 county and city/town councillors (who had been elected locally). Following the 1962 de Gaulle's constitutional reform (the constitutional Act of November 6, 1962) the president has been directly elected by the people of France. Until the French constitutional revision of September 24, 2000, the president had been elected for a seven-year term. Under this revision the
Council of the Republic (France) and departments; the other one-sixth were elected by the National Assembly, the lower house. They served six-year terms. The President was the presiding officer of the council. Political Party: Council of the Republic (France) The Council of the Republic () was the name of the upper house of the legislature of the French Fourth Republic (1946–1958). It was replaced by the Senate when the constitution of the French Fifth Republic came into force. The constitution of the Fourth Republic, which came into force in 1946, stipulated that parliament was bicameral. The upper house was named the "Council of the Republic"