Editing Political history of France (section)

=== De Gaulle's return to power (29 May 1958) ===
[[File:Demonstraties in Parijs tgv en voor De Gaulle, Bestanddeelnr 909-6034.jpg|thumb|upright|Demonstration on [[rue du Faubourg-du-Temple]] in Paris on 1 June]]
On 29 May President René Coty told parliament that the nation was on the brink of civil war, so he was "turning towards the most illustrious of Frenchmen, towards the man who, in the darkest years of our history, was our chief for the reconquest of freedom and who refused dictatorship in order to re-establish the Republic. I ask General de Gaulle to confer with the head of state and to examine with him what, in the framework of Republican legality, is necessary for the immediate formation of a government of national safety and what can be done, in a fairly short time, for a deep reform of our institutions."<ref>{{cite book|author=Jonathan Fenby|title=The General|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qzVrCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA396|year=2013|page=396|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |isbn=9781620878057}}</ref>

De Gaulle accepted Coty's proposal under the precondition that a new constitution would be introduced creating a powerful presidency in which a sole executive, the first of which was to be himself, ruled for seven-year periods. Another condition was that he be granted [[state of emergency|extraordinary powers]] for a period of six months.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|author=W. Scott Haine|title=The History of France|publisher=Greenwood Press|url=https://archive.org/details/historyoffrance00hain|url-access=registration|year=2000|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyoffrance00hain/page/180 180]|isbn=9780313303289 }}</ref>

De Gaulle's newly formed cabinet was approved by the National Assembly on 1 June 1958, by 329 votes against 224, while he was granted the power to govern by [[Ordonnance (French constitutional law)|ordinances]] for a six-month period as well as the task to draft a new Constitution.<ref name=":0" />

The May 1958 crisis indicated that the Fourth Republic by 1958 no longer had any support from the French army in Algeria, and was at its mercy even in civilian political matters. This decisive shift in the balance of power in civil-military relations in France in 1958 and the threat of force was the main immediate factor in the return of de Gaulle to power in France.