French Fifth Republic French Fifth Republic The Fifth Republic, France's current republican system of government, was established by Charles de Gaulle under the Constitution of the Fifth Republic on 4 October 1958. The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the Fourth Republic, replacing the former parliamentary republic with a semi-presidential, or dual-executive, system that split powers between a Prime Minister as head of government and a President as head of state. De Gaulle, who was the first French President elected under the Fifth Republic in December 1958, believed in a strong head of state, which he described as embodying ("the spirit of
Constitutional amendments under the French Fifth Republic for final approval, the President of the Republic did not continue the action, as he could not muster the required three-fifths majority in Congress and because of resistance to his project. The bill of 2000 is the first constitutional amendment submitted to referendum pursuant to section 89 of the Constitution. After 73% of "yes" votes on , it passed on October 2. It limited the term of French presidents to five years, but was not applied to the president, Jacques Chirac, who was elected in 1995 for seven years. The main motivation for this revision was to avoid cohabitation, by