French presidential election, 1965

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The 1965 French presidential election was the first presidential election by direct universal suffrage of the French Fifth Republic. It was also the first presidential election by direct universal suffrage since 1848. It was won by outgoing president Charles de Gaulle who resigend in 1969.

This election was the second since the beginning of the Fifth Republic. Under the first draft of the 1958 constitution, the president was elected by an electoral college, in order to appease concerns about De Gaulle's allegedly authoritarian or bonapartist tendencies. Indeed, the last time a French president was elected by direct suffrage was in 1848, when Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was elected only to abolish democracy 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 referendum in 1962.

According to De Gaulle's intentions, the presidential election became the driving election in the Fifth Republic.

Another important fact about this election was De Gaulle's failure to be elected in the first round. In 1958, François Mitterrand had led opposition to De Gaulle's return to office and his new tailor-made constitution, claiming that its reliance on direct suffrage amounted to a "permanent coup d'État". However, by 1965, he had realized that it was the only way to defeat the ruling right wing. He ran for president as the only left-wing candidate and became a second-round candidate. De Gaulle was elected but, because he had been expected to win in the first round, Mitterrand's qualification was considered as a success.

[edit] First round

Candidate	Party	Vote	Percent
Charles de Gaulle	Union for the New Republic	10,828,523	44.64%
François Mitterrand	Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left	7,694,003	31.72%
Jean Lecanuet	Democratic Center	3,777,119	15.57%
Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour	Far right	1,260,208	5.19%
Pierre Marcilhacy	Center-right	415,018	1.71%
Marcel Barbu	Independent	279,683	1.15%

[edit] Second round

President:	Charles de Gaulle, Union for the New Republic
Opponent:	François Mitterrand, Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left
Vote:	Winner: 13,083,699 (55.1%)	Opponent: 10,619,735 (44.8%)