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
14th legislature of the French Fifth Republic grouping. He represents the 6th Constituency of Val d'Oise and was 76 years old at the beginning of the current parliamentary term. The youngest member of the National Assembly is Marion Maréchal-Le Pen from the Front National, the MP for the 3rd Constituency of Vaucluse. She was 22 years old at the beginning of the current parliamentary term and was actually the youngest ever MP elected under the French Fifth Republic. Members of the National Assembly who join the government are required to give up their seats to their substitutes ("suppléants") a month after their appointment, as stipulated in the