1962 French presidential election referendum

1962 French presidential election referendum
Do you approve of the bill submitted to the French people by the President of the Republic and relating to the election of the President of the Republic by universal suffrage?
Results

A referendum on the method of the election of the president was held in France on 28 October 1962.^[1] The question was whether to have the President of the French Republic elected by direct popular vote, rather than by an electoral college. It was approved by 62.3% of voters with a 77.0% turnout.^[2] The reform was controversial because it strengthened the executive at the expense of Parliament, and because of the disputed constitutionality of the procedure used.

Background

In the Third and Fourth Republic, Parliament elected the President of the Republic. In the original 1958 constitution of the Fifth Republic, the president was elected by an electoral college, in a manner similar to the senators: electors were the members of Parliament, members of the departmental assemblies, and representatives of cities, towns and villages (such as mayors).^[3] Charles de Gaulle was elected in this manner in the 1958 presidential election.

The presidential office in the Third and Fourth republic was largely ceremonial, with most executive power vested in the President of the Council of Ministers, a more powerful analogue to the present-day Prime Minister. De Gaulle, who largely designed the constitution of the Fifth Republic, wanted a more powerful presidential office. The proposed change would have the president elected by the two-round system of voting; the president being directly elected by citizenry, and with at least half of the non-blank ballots cast, would give the office much more legitimacy and status in the eyes of the public than indirect election by the presidential college, and thus greater political influence even with unchanged constitutional powers.

Proposal and debate

See 1962 French legislative election for more about the French politics of that time.

De Gaulle soon preferred to be elected by direct popular vote, which would give him a stronger political position, and proposed that the Constitution be amended.^[4]

The referendum was highly controversial. Part of the controversy concerned the constitutional processes for modifying the Constitution.^[5] According to article 89 of the Constitution of France, any constitutional reform must be first approved by both houses of Parliament: the National Assembly and the Senate. Then it is either approved by a referendum, or by a solemn joint session of both houses known as Congress. Instead, de Gaulle used Article 11 of the Constitution, which allows the Prime Minister, then Georges Pompidou, to request the President to submit to a referendum a bill in certain areas of law, including "the organization of public powers". To summarize, supporters of de Gaulle and the referendum contended that Article 11 allowed bills to be passed on constitutional matters, while opponents considered that the existence of a special process in Article 89 precluded this.^[5]^[6]

Many legal scholars and politicians disagreed with this application of Article 11, which they felt was unconstitutional, while Gaullists generally supported the move.^[5] François Mitterrand, former minister and future President of the Republic, characterized the referendum as unconstitutional.^[7] Gaston Monnerville, president of the Senate, referred the matter to the Constitutional Council (Article 61). The council however ruled that it fell outside of its jurisdiction to strike down a reform voted by the French people, thus upholding de Gaulle's action.^[5]^[8] This was unsurprising: from 1958 to 1970, under de Gaulle's presidency, the Constitutional Council was sometimes described as a "cannon aimed at Parliament",^[5] protecting the executive branch against encroachment by Parliament; all referrals except the one from Monnerville had come from the Prime Minister, who always got a ruling of partial unconstitutionality (the council had struck down for unconstitutionality provisions introduced by Parliament that the Prime Minister disagreed with).^[5] Monnerville went as far as to use the strong word of forfaiture ("abuse of authority") against the behaviour of Prime Minister Pompidou, who had accepted the referendum project.^[6]^[9]

Many members of the National Assembly were also very unhappy about the situation. On 4 October 1962, the Assembly passed a motion of no confidence in the Government,^[10] resulting in the automatic resignation of the Prime Minister (per article 49-2); this was the only successful vote of no-confidence of the Fifth Republic.^[11] The vote was supported by, among others, former prime ministers^[12] Paul Reynaud and Guy Mollet, who severely criticized the referendum.^[13] De Gaulle dissolved the Assembly within a few days,^[14] thus provoking legislative elections in November, and appointed Georges Pompidou again.

Results

Choice	Metropolitan France		Total
Choice	Votes	%	Votes	%
For	12,809,363	61.8	13,150,516	62.3
Against	7,932,695	38.2	7,974,538	37.7
Invalid/blank votes	559,758	–	569,509	–
Total	21,301,816	100	21,694,563	100
Registered voters	27,582,113	–	28,185,478	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Aftermath

Since the referendum was positive, the mode of election of the president changed, and Charles de Gaulle remains the only president of France elected by an electoral college. Charles de Gaulle was reelected in 1965, this time by direct suffrage.

References

^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p674 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
^ Nohlen & Stöver, p685
^ See Article 6 of the 1958 Constitution. Most versions of the constitution available online and in books are not the original version, but some later amended version.
^ See the radiophonic speech Archived 27 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine to the nation of 20 September 1962 by Charles de Gaulle, announcing the forthcoming referendum.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Alec Stone, The Birth of Judicial Politics in France: The Constitutional Council in Comparative Perspective, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-507034-8, chapter III
^ ^a ^b French Senate, Le conflit du référendum de 1962 ("The conflict of the referendum of 1962")
^ François Mitterrand, Le coup d'état permanent ("The permanent coup d'état", alluding to Charles de Gaulle's presidency), 1966; later edition 1998, Julliard, ISBN 2-260-00378-8: Ainsi s'explique le secret de son obstination à obtenir par le référendum inconstitutionnel de 1962 cette réforme ("Thus is explained [De Gaulle's] obstination to obtain this reform by the unconstitutional referendum of 1962")
^ See decision 62-20 DC Archived 10 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine from the Constitutional Council.
^ Decree 62-1127 of 2 October 1962, preceded by a letter from Prime Minister Georges Pompidou to President Charles de Gaulle proposing him to submit to a referendum. following article 11 of the Constitution, a bill changing the method for electing the President of France.
^ Proceedings of the National Assembly, 4 October 1962, second sitting; vote tally on p. 3268. p. 38 in the PDF file
^ La motion de censure : véritable moyen de contrôle ? ("The no-confidence vote: true means of control?")
^ More precisely: during the Third and Fourth Republic, the position corresponding to the prime minister was known as Président du conseil des ministres ("president of the Council of ministers"), shortened to Président du conseil.
^ See debates of the National Assembly on 4 October 1962: first sitting, second sitting.
^ Decree of 9 October 1962 dissolving the National Assembly

External links

For references to constitutional articles, see the official translation Archived 13 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine of the Constitution on the site of the French National Assembly.

v t e Elections and referendums in France
Presidential	1848 1965 1969 1974 1981 1988 1995 2002 2007 2012 2017 2022 2027
Parliamentary	1789 1791 1792 1795 1797 1798 1799 1815 (May) 1815 (Aug) 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1824 1827 1830 1831 1834 1837 1839 1842 1846 1848 1849 1852 1857 1863 1869 1871 1876 1877 1881 1885 1889 1893 1898 1902 1906 1910 1914 1919 1924 1928 1932 1936 1945 1946 (Jun) 1946 (Nov) 1951 1956 1958 1962 1967 1968 1973 1978 1981 1986 1988 1993 1997 2002 2007 2012 2017 2022 2024 Next
Regional	1986 1992 1998 2004 2010 2015 2017 2021 2028
Cantonal then departemental	1790 1791 1792 1795 1797 1798 1799 1801 1803 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1833 1836 1839 1842 1845 1848 1852 1854 1855 1856 1858 1860 1861 1862 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1874 1877 1880 1883 1886 1889 1892 1895 1898 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1945 1949 1951 1955 1958 1961 1964 1967 1970 1973 1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1992 1994 1998 2001 2004 2008 2011 2015 2021 2028
Arrondissement	1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1833 1836 1839 1842 1845 1848 1852 1854 1855 1856 1858 1860 1861 1862 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1874 1877 1878 1880 1883 1886 1889 1892 1895 1898 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937
Municipal	1790 1790–91 1791 1792 1795 1797 1798 1799 1801 1813 1815 1831 1834 1837 1840 1843 1845 1846 1848 1852 1855 1860 1865 1870 1871 (Mar) 1871 (Jul) 1874 1878 1881 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1919 1925 1929 1935 1945 1947 1953 1959 1965 1971 1977 1983 1989 1995 2001 2008 2014 2020 2026
Consular	2014 2021 2026
European	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024 2029
Referendums	1793 1795 1800 1802 1804 1815 1851 1852 1870 1945 1946 (May) 1946 (Oct) 1958 1961 1962 (Apr) 1962 (Oct) 1969 1972 1988 1992 2000 2005
See also: Indirect presidential and Senate elections Elections in French Polynesia New Caledonia Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Wallis and Futuna