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
Vice President of the Republic of China the Republic of China Navy". The insignia was abolished with invalidation of the act on 3 January 1986. Vice President of the Republic of China The Vice President of Taiwan , officially the Vice President of the Republic of China(), is the second-highest executive official of Taiwan. Since 1996, the President and the Vice President are elected together by direct plurality voting to a four-year term. Chen Chien-jen is the current Vice President of the Republic of China. Originally established in Nanking, the ROC government , along with its presidency, relocated to Taiwan after losing the Chinese Civil War in