1969 French presidential election

none June 2020 France presidential 1965 French presidential election 1965 1974 French presidential election 1974 1 June 1969 (first round)15 June 1969 (second round) 77.59% (first round) 68.85% (second round) Georges Pompidou 1969 (cropped).jpg Georges Pompidou Union of Democrats for the Republic 11,064,371 58.21% 23.04.1969. A Poher. (1969) - 53Fi3443 (cropped).jpg Alain Poher Democratic Centre (France) 7,943,118 41.79% 300px First round results by department 300px Second round results by department 2 President Alain Poher (acting President after Charles de Gaulle resigned in April) Democratic Centre (France) Georges Pompidou Union of Democrats for the Republic Presidential elections were held in France on 1 June 1969, with a second round on 15 June. They were triggered by the resignation of President Charles de Gaulle on 28 April 1969. Background Incumbent president Charles de Gaulle proposed a referendum on government decentralisation and a reform of the Senate. In the referendum on 27 April, 53.5% of voters rejected the proposed amendments. Following the announcement of the results, De Gaulle resigned as president at noon the following day, having threatened to do so if the referendum had failed.2009-04-27 27 avril 1969 : De Gaulle s'en va https://www.parismatch.com/Actu/Politique/De-Gaulle-referendum-1969-Georges-Pompidou-Valery-Giscard-d-Estaing-138768 2024-06-27 Paris Match fr Candidates In the presidential election, the Gaullist Party (Union of Democrats for the Republic, UDR) was represented by former Prime Minister Georges Pompidou. He was very popular in the conservative electorate due to economic growth when he led the cabinet (from 1962 to 1968) and his role in the settlement of the May 68 crisis and winning the June 1968 legislative campaign. In his presidential campaign, he obtained the support of the Independent Republicans and their leader Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who had voted "no" in the referendum. The left-wing French Communist Party (PCF) proposed to the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO, later formed the Socialist Party) to present a candidate with a common programme, but the SFIO refused. The Left was severely divided in this election. The PCF candidate was Jacques Duclos, one of the historical leaders of the party. The mayor of Marseille, Gaston Defferre, was the SFIO candidate and campaigned with Pierre Mendès France, who would have become Prime Minister had Defferre been elected to the presidency. This candidacy was the first – and so far, only – dual "ticket" in a French presidential election. But Defferre's campaign was weakened by the decision of centrist interim President Alain Poher to run. As Chairman of the Senate, Poher had led the "no" campaign in the referendum. The success of the "no" campaign gave him the legitimacy to run for the presidency and he rallied a large swathe of centre-right and centre-left voters. Michel Rocard and Alain Krivine stood as candidates expressing the ideas of the May 1968 movements, though the Trotskyist Krivine took a far more radical stance. First round The first round of voting was held on 1 June 1969. Out of a total of 28,774,041 eligible voters, participation in the first round hovered around 78% of the electorate. Pompidou and Poher won the right to compete in the second round by claiming 43.9% and 23.4% of the vote respectively.The Cambridge History of Modern France: The Pompidou Years, 1969–1974 Berstein Serge Rioux Jean-Pierre 2000 Cambridge University Press Cambridge 0-521-58061-7 14–15 https://books.google.com/books?id=_GyhQAJeOZoC&pg=PA14 Second round The second round saw Pompidou facing Poher. None of the left-wing candidates reached the second round, despite a good campaign and the result for Duclos, who scored the best ever result for a Communist in a presidential election.Pierce Roy Candidate Evaluations and Presidential Electoral Choices in France 2002-03-21 Leaders' Personalities and the Outcomes of Democratic Elections 96–126 https://academic.oup.com/book/12516/chapter-abstract/162253578?redirectedFrom=fulltext 2024-09-30 Oxford University PressOxford 10.1093/0199253137.003.0004 0-19-925313-7 subscription The Socialists supported reluctantly the centrist Chairman of the Senate. The Communists refused to choose and used a slogan which was equivalent to the phrase "It's six of one and half a dozen of the other" (c'est bonnet blanc et blanc bonnet). The second round was held on 15 June 1969. About 69% of eligible voters participated. Pompidou was elected President of France with a comfortable majority of more than 58%. Results Georges Pompidou Union of Democrats for the Republic 10051783 11064371 Alain Poher Democratic Centre 5268613 7943118 Jacques Duclos French Communist Party 4808285 Gaston Defferre French Section of the Workers' International 1133222 Michel Rocard Unified Socialist Party 816470 Louis Ducatel Miscellaneous left 286447 Alain Krivine Communist League 239104 295036 1303798 29513361 29500334 Constitutional Court, Constitutional Court See also President of France Politics of France French presidential elections under the Fifth Republic References Further reading 10.1093/oxfordjournals.pa.a051500 The French Presidential Election of 1st and 15th June 1969 David B. Goldey Parliamentary Affairs 1969 320–348 Penniman, Howard. "French Elections, 1969." World Affairs 132.2 (1969): 101–117. online France President Category:Presidential elections in France Category:Georges Pompidou