The vice president of the Republic (french: vice-président de la République) was an office that existed in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

only during the Second Republic (1848–1852), and only ever had one holder,

Henri Georges Boulay de la Meurthe Henri Georges Boulay de la Meurthe, 2nd Count Boulay de La Meurthe (15 July 1797 – 24 November 1858) was a French politician who served as vice president of France from 1849 to 1852, and is the only person to ever have that title. Biography ...

, elected in January 1849. It was never re-established, despite occasional discussions in the founding years of the Fifth Republic. The president of the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

(upper house) is designated to step in as

acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad r ...

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Selection and duties

The vice presidency was established at the start of the Second Republic by the Constitution of 4 November 1848, specifically its articles 45, 70 and 71. It was broadly inspired by the

vice president of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice ...

, as were some other features of the new constitution, which created France’s only

presidential system A presidential system, or single executive system, is a form of government in which a head of government, typically with the title of president, leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch in systems that use separati ...

, with the introduction of a

, an office the First Republic had done without. The holder, however, was not elected alongside the president on a

ticket Ticket or tickets may refer to: Slips of paper * Lottery ticket * Parking ticket, a ticket confirming that the parking fee was paid (and the time of the parking start) * Toll ticket, a slip of paper used to indicate where vehicles entered a tol ...

, but in an

indirect election An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office (direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the old ...

by the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

(legislature) within the month after the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

direct election Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are cho ...

), from a list of three names proposed by the new president. In order to avoid dynastic links after the toppling of the July Monarchy, members of the president’s family (“relations or kindred of the President to the sixth degree inclusive”) were barred from the office. Like the president, the vice president could only be re-elected, or be elected as president himself, after an interval of four years. Also, the vice president was to step in as

president if the president was incapacitated, but not to ascend the office if it became vacant: a new president was to be elected within a month. The vice president was ''

ex officio An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term '' ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by right ...

'' the president of the

Council of State A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...

, a position that has always been occupied by a member of the executive (today the

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

was elected to the new office on 20 January 1849, as the preferred choice of President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, who had also proposed Count Achille Baraguey d’Hilliers and

Alexandre-François Vivien Alexandre François Auguste Vivien (or Vivien de Goubert; 3 July 1799 – 7 June 1854) was a French lawyer and politician. He was Minister of Justice during the July Monarchy, and Minister of Public Works in the French Second Republic. Early year ...

. He was a devoted and discreet supporter of Bonaparte for the next three years; one biographer wrote that he was “always withdrawing, meddling in nothing, not even in his prerogatives”. He supported his coup of 2 December 1851; although he formally remained Vice President, the Constitution of 1848 was in effect suspended until the Constitution of 14 January 1852 came into force and abolished the office. He was compensated with a lifetime seat in the re-established

1849 vice presidential election

The order was the one in which President Bonaparte had presented his three candidates, in a letter of 18 January. The election was held on 20 January. Although the Constitution did not specify a

voting system An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections ma ...

, the president of the Assembly stated that the election required a

majority A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from #Related terms, related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster interim An interim is a period of temporary pause or change in a sequence of events, or a temporary state, and is often applied to transitional political entities. Interim may also refer to: Temporary organizational arrangements (general concept) *Provis ...

of the presidency in case of an incapacitation or a vacancy was devolved to the Council of Ministers (government) during the Third Republic, to the president of the

(lower house) during the Fourth Republic, and to the president of the

(upper house) under the Fifth Republic. In the 1960s, after the founding years of the Fifth Republic, there were proposals within the right-wing majority to create a vice presidency, some linked to the perspective of turning it into a

. One was put forward privately by

Jacques Chaban-Delmas Jacques Chaban-Delmas (; 7 March 1915 – 10 November 2000) was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1969 to 1972. He was the Mayor of Bordeaux from 1947 to 1995 and a deputy for the Gironde ''d� ...

, the president of the National Assembly, to President

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

after he escaped the Petit-Clamart attack in 1962, and there were discussions at the 3rd UNR Conference in November 1963, which, by coincidence, was held in the days after the

assassination of John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. CST in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was in the vehicle with ...

. Others were made by

Pierre Marcilhacy Pierre Marcilhacy (14 February 1910, Paris – 6 July 1987) was a French lawyer and public figure. His family home in Jarnac dated back over six centuries. He fought in the French Resistance during World War II. It was then that he met his wife Ga ...

in 1964 and by

Paul Coste-Floret Paul Coste-Floret (9 April 1911 – 27 August 1979) was a French politician. He was born and died in Montpellier, France. Career Coste-Floret was originally an academic, becoming Doctor of Law in 1935 and teaching law at the University of ...

and Achille Peretti in 1966. De Gaulle and his entourage, however, saw this as a manoeuvre to ease his retirement, and the proposals came to nothing; he said of a potential vice president: “He would be my widow.”As quoted by

Jean Foyer Jean Foyer (21 April 1921, Contigné, Maine-et-Loire – 3 October 2008, Paris) was a French politician and minister. He studied law and became a law professor at the university. He wrote several books about French Civil law. Political care ...

in an interview with Influential personalities in the executive branch with a close personal connection to the

, or a strong enough position to bypass the

, have sometimes been referred to as “Vice President”, for example Claude Guéant, who was secretary general of the Presidency, then minister of the interior under

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

, and previously his chief of staff and presidential campaign manager; and

Ségolène Royal Marie-Ségolène Royal (; born 22 September 1953) is a French politician who was the Socialist Party candidate for the Presidency of France in the 2007 election. Royal was president of the Poitou-Charentes Regional Council from 2004 to 2014 ...

, as minister for sustainable development under

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. He previously was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) from 1997 to 2008, Mayor of Tulle from ...

, the two being a former couple of three decades and the parents of four children.

References

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French Second Republic Legal history of France Government of France 1848 establishments in France 1852 disestablishments in France Defunct government positions