French Presidential Election, 1965

French Presidential Election, 1965

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

When the electoral campaign started, the most part of the political actors and observers predicted a plebiscite for de Gaulle, thinking one round would be sufficient to guarantee his re-election. If some unknown personalities decided to run, benefiting of this campaign to win fame, the leaders of the big opponent political parties hesitated to presented himself. Furthermore, all the political parties (except the Gaullist Union for the New Republic (UNR-UDT) and the Independent Republicans) had campaigned against the principle of the presidential election by the universal suffrage (that was the argument of the former centre-left Prime Minister of the Fourth Republic Pierre Mendès-France to not run).

The centre-left paper L'Express campaigned for the nomination of a candidate of the non-Communist opposition. Under the name "Mister X" appeared Gaston Defferre, Mayor of Marseille, main internal opponent to the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO, socialist party) leader Guy Mollet. In his municipality, Defferre led a coalition composed of the SFIO, the Radical Party, and the centre-right Popular Republican Movement (MRP). Nevertheless, the national authorities of this parties refused to support his candidacy in the presidential race.

The failure of Defferre's candidacy permitted to others politicians to run. The MRP leader Jean Lecanuet was nominated by his party and the National Centre of Independents and Peasants (CNIP) to be the representing of the non-Gaullist centre-right in the competition. He presented himself like modern, liberal and pro-European candidate, influenced by the example of President John Kennedy. Criticizing the "archaism" and the "nationalism" of De Gaulle, he tried to rally the young and moderate wing of the conservative electorate.

In the left, a former Fourth Republic's minister, François Mitterrand proposed to be the candidate of all the left-wing parties. Opponent to De Gaulle since 1958 (like the Communists but contrary to the SFIO lead), he was the author of a very anti-Gaullist book, The permanent coup d'État, and did not belong to any party. He had realized that working through the constitution was the only way to defeat the right. He obtained the support of the left-wing parties, including the French Communist Party (PCF), which wished to get out of its isolation. Denouncing the appropriation of the state by a "monarch", he presented himself as the candidate of all the Republicans. However, for the Gaullists, Mitterrand was in fact the candidate of the return to the Fourth Republic.

Because he thought that his challengers did not measure up to him and were not dangerous opponents, de Gaulle announced his candidacy only one month before the first round of voting and did not run a very active campaign. But surprisingly, he did not reach the required 50% in the first round and was forced to compete on a second ballot pitting him against Mitterrand. De Gaulle was elected but Mitterrand's performance was considered to be a success because de Gaulle had been expected to win in the first round. This result was a first warning for the Gaullist power and symbolized the start of the decline of de Gaulle's presidency. De Gaulle confirmed his Prime Minister Georges Pompidou but decided a cabinet reshuffle. He dismissed his Economy Minister Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, damaging the relations in the majority coalition with the Independent Republicans, the last allies of the Gaullists.