Editing President of France (section)

=== Term limits ===
Since the [[1962 French presidential election referendum|1962 presidential referendum]], the president has been directly elected by [[universal suffrage]]; previously, an [[electoral college]] decided the head of state. The length of the presidential term was reduced from seven years to five years following a [[2000 French constitutional referendum|2000 referendum]]; the first election for a shorter term was held in [[2002 French presidential election|2002]]. Then-president [[Jacques Chirac]] was first elected in [[1995 French presidential election|1995]] and again in 2002, and would have been able to run in [[2007 French presidential election|2007]] had he chosen to, given the lack of term limits.

Following a further change, the [[French constitutional law of 23 July 2008|constitutional law of 2008 on the modernization of the institutions of the Fifth Republic]], a president cannot serve more than two consecutive terms. [[François Mitterrand]] and [[Jacques Chirac]] were previously the only presidents to date who have served a full two terms (14 years for the former, 12 years for the latter). Incumbent Emmanuel Macron is the fourth president (after de Gaulle, Mitterrand, and Chirac) to win re-election, having [[2022 French presidential election|done so in 2022]].<ref>{{cite news |title=French election: Historic win but Macron has polarised France |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61209765 |date=24 April 2022 |work=[[BBC News Online]] }}</ref>