French Fourth Republic Charles de Gaulle returned from retirement to preside over a transitional administration that was empowered to design a new French constitution. The Fourth Republic was dissolved by a public referendum on 5 October 1958 which established the modern-day Fifth Republic with a strengthened presidency. After the liberation of France in 1944, the Vichy government was dissolved and the Provisional Government of the French Republic () was instituted. With most of the political class discredited and containing many members who had more or less collaborated with Nazi Germany, Gaullism and communism became the most popular political forces in France. Charles deGaulle
Constitutional amendments under the French Fifth Republic the Republic. New Caledonia would then be covered by the constitutional amendment of February 23, 2003 for its constituency and French Polynesia, the Organic Act No. 2004-192 of 27 February 2004 concerning the autonomy of French Polynesia. In 2011, Nicolas Sarkozy wished to include in the Constitution rules providing for a gradual return to a balanced budget, called "Golden Rule", which was passed by both houses on second reading by the Senate July 11, 2011 and third reading in identical terms by the National Assembly July 13, 2011. Due to the inability to raise the necessary three-fifths majority in Congress,