Editing President of France (section)

==Succession and incapacity==
[[File:23.04.1969. A Poher. (1969) - 53Fi3443 (cropped).jpg|180px|left|thumb|[[Alain Poher]], who served as acting president in 1969 and 1974]]
{{Presidential orders of succession}}
Upon the death in office, removal, or resignation of the president, the [[Senate (France)|Senate]]'s president takes over as acting president.<ref>The exact title is "President of the Senate, exercising provisionally the functions of the President of the Republic"; see how Alain Poher is referred to on signing statutes into law, e.g. [http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jopdf/common/jo_pdf.jsp?numJO=0&dateJO=19690510&numTexte=&pageDebut=04675&pageFin= law 69-412] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728094712/https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jo_pdf.do?numJO=0&dateJO=19690510&numTexte=&pageDebut=04675&pageFin= |date=28 July 2020 }}</ref> [[Alain Poher]] is the only person to have served in this temporary position, and has done so twice: the first time in 1969 after [[Charles de Gaulle]]'s resignation and a second time in 1974 after [[Georges Pompidou]]'s death while in office. In this situation, the president of the Senate does not have to resign from their position while acting as president.

The first round of a new presidential election must be organized no sooner than twenty days and no later than thirty-five days following the vacancy of the presidency. Fifteen days can separate the first and second rounds of a presidential election; this means that the president of the Senate can only act as President of the Republic for a maximum period of fifty days.

During this interim period, acting presidents are not allowed to dismiss the national assembly, nor are they allowed to call for a referendum or initiate any constitutional changes. If there is no president of the Senate, the powers of the president of the republic are exercised by the {{lang|fr|Gouvernement}}, meaning the Cabinet. This has been interpreted by some constitutional academics as meaning first the prime minister and, if they are themselves not able to act, the members of the cabinet in the order of the list of the decree that nominated them. This is in fact unlikely to happen, because if the president of the Senate is not able to act, the Senate will normally name a new president of the Senate, who will act as President of the Republic.

During the [[French Third Republic|Third French Republic]] the president of the Council of Ministers acted as president whenever the office was vacant.<ref>{{cite French law |article=7 |date in French=25 février 1875 |full name=relative à l'organisation des pouvoirs publics |url=http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Lois_constitutionnelles_de_1875#Loi_du_25_f.C3.A9vrier_1875_relative_.C3.A0_l.27organisation_des_pouvoirs_publics}}: "In case of a vacancy due to a decease or for any cause, the two houses of Parliament elect a new president. In the meantime, the executive power is vested in the council of ministers."</ref> According to article 7 of the Constitution, if the presidency becomes vacant for any reason, or if the president becomes incapacitated, upon the request of the {{lang|fr|Gouvernement}}, the Constitutional Council may rule, by a majority vote,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexteArticle.do?idArticle=LEGIARTI000006529987&cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006069199 |title=Ordonnance n<sup>o</sup> 58-1067 du 7 novembre 1958 portant loi organique sur le Conseil constitutionnel |language=French |website=Légifrance |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403104549/http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexteArticle.do?idArticle=LEGIARTI000006529987&cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006069199 |archive-date= Apr 3, 2019 }}</ref> that the presidency is to be temporarily assumed by the president of the Senate. If the Council rules that the incapacity is permanent, the same procedure as for the resignation is applied, as described above. If the president cannot attend meetings, including meetings of the Council of Ministers, they can ask the prime minister to attend in their stead (Constitution, article 21). This clause has been applied by presidents travelling abroad, ill, or undergoing surgery. During the [[French Second Republic|Second French Republic]], there was a [[vice President of France|vice president]]. The only person to ever hold the position was [[Henri Georges Boulay de la Meurthe]].