1965 French presidential election

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5 December 1965 (first round)

19 December 1965 (second round)

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Turnout

84.75% (first round)

84.32% (second round)

Candidate

Party

Popular vote

13,083,699

10,619,735

Percentage

55.20%

44.80%

President before

election

Elected President

were held in

on 5 December 1965, with

a second round on 19 December. They were the first direct

presidential elections in the

and the first since the

. It had been widely expected that incumbent

president

would be re-elected, but the election

was notable for the unexpectedly strong performance of his left-wing

challenger

Background

[

]

This was the second presidential election since the beginning of the

Fifth Republic. Under the first draft of the 1958 constitution, the

president was to be elected by an electoral college, in order to

appease concerns about de Gaulle's allegedly authoritarian or

tendencies. There had been a historical reluctance in

France to have a directly elected president, because

(the winner of the

) had seized

power in the

, before the end of his term. However,

a direct presidential election had always been essential to de

Gaulle's political vision, and he had it adopted by the

Candidates

[

]

% of vote for Charles de Gaulle,

first round

When the electoral campaign started, the majority of political

commentators believed that de Gaulle would succeed in winning re-

election in a single round. Many of the leaders of the opposition

parties were therefore reluctant to challenge de Gaulle.

Furthermore, some potential candidates such as former Prime Minister

declined to run, due to their opposition to

direct presidential elections. De Gaulle did not expect a

significant challenger, announced his candidacy only one month

before the first round of voting, and did not lead a very active

campaign.

The centre-left paper

campaigned for the nomination of a

candidate of the non-Communist opposition. One potential challenger

identified was

, Mayor of

and an internal

opponent of the then leader of the

(SFIO, socialist party),

. In his

municipality, Defferre led a coalition composed of the SFIO, the

, and the centre-right

(MRP). Nevertheless, the leaders of these parties refused to support

his candidacy.

The failure of Defferre's candidacy led to other politicians

entering the race. The MRP leader

was nominated by his

party and the

(CNIP) to

represent the centre. He ran a liberal and pro-European campaign,

influenced by

, and criticizing the "archaism" and

the "nationalism" of de Gaulle in a bid to rally younger and more

moderate conservatives.

, a former

minister who did not belong to any

party, offered to run as the sole candidate of the left. Mitterrand had been an

opponent to de Gaulle since 1958 (like the Communists but contrary to the SFIO

leadership) and had written the book

The Permanent Coup d'État

, strongly

criticising de Gaulle's policies. He obtained the support from several left-wing parties, including the

(PCF), which wished to get out of its isolation.

Results

[

]

Despite running a somewhat lacklustre campaign, de Gaulle won the first round by over three million votes. However, he

came up short of a majority, forcing a runoff being held two weeks later, pitting him against Mitterrand. Tixier-

Vignancour supported Mitterrand in the second round, Lecanuet called on his voters not to vote for de Gaulle. De Gaulle

defeated Mitterrand by a decisive margin in the runoff. However, Mitterrand performed better than expected, one of the

first warnings that de Gaulle's popularity was waning.

De Gaulle retained his Prime Minister

but decided to carry out a cabinet reshuffle. He dismissed his

Economy Minister

, thus damaging relations in the majority coalition with Giscard's party, the

, the last allies of the Gaullists.

Candidate

Party

First round

Second round

Votes

(incumbent)

10,828,521

44.65

13,083,699

55.20

7,694,005

31.72

10,619,735

44.80

3,777,120

15.57

1,260,208

5.20

415,017

1.71

279,685

1.15

Total

24,254,556

100.00

23,703,434

100.00

Valid votes

24,254,556

98.99

23,703,434

97.26

Invalid/blank votes

248,360

1.01

668,213

2.74

Total votes

24,502,916

100.00

24,371,647

100.00

Registered voters/turnout

28,910,581

84.75

28,902,704

84.32

Source: Constitutional Court

References

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