PARIS -

On April 24, the date of the second round of presidential elections, the French will learn the results of the polls and the name of their next president.

This election is running for a second term, the current President Emmanuel Macron, who is the youngest president of the country elected in 2017, at the age of 39, and the youngest president before him was Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (the first president of France) who was elected at the age of only 40 years and 8 months.

Since the establishment of the Second Republic until reaching the Fifth Republic, France has ruled only 25 presidents.

But since the implementation of the Constitution of the Fifth Republic on October 5, 1958, France has actually ruled 8 presidents, Charles de Gaulle being the first and Macron the last.

Since this date, the system of government has been changed from parliamentary to presidential.

The first French presidential election dates back to December 1848 under the Second Republic, and was won by Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte (1848-1852), the nephew of Napoleon I, who was elected by universal male suffrage with 75% of the vote.

After 3 years of elections, his coup put an end to the Second Republic, when he declared himself Emperor and took the name Napoleon III.

François Mitterrand, first socialist president of the Fifth Republic (French)

Various political map

The political families and parties that ruled France varied, differing between right, center and left.

François Mitterrand (1981-1995) is the first socialist president of the Fifth Republic, and he also holds the record for the longest serving president at the Elysee, 14 years.

Although François Hollande (2012-2017) is the second socialist to enter the Elysee after Mitterrand, his reign was short and for one period over 5 years.

The centrist family meets the left in the event of a number of presidents who entered the Elysee. Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (1974-1981) is the first centrist to rule France, while Macron was the second president of the centrist parties to enter the Elysee Palace.

The right-wing family is more than contender for the presidential elections and more than ruling France also during the Fifth Republic, where 4 right-wing presidents took power, Charles de Gaulle (1958-1969), Georges Pompidou (1969-1974), Jacques Chirac (1995-2007), and Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2012).

Below is a brief summary of the presidents who ruled France during the Fifth Republic.

General Charles de Gaulle adopted a policy that rejects the hegemony of America and the Soviet Union (Al-Jazeera)

Charles de Gaulle (1958-1969)

General Charles de Gaulle is considered one of the greatest French presidents in the last century, as he assumed the presidency in 1958, and adopted a policy that defends the independence of France and rejects the domination of America and the Soviet Union.

He resigned from his post in 1969, due to his failure to gain popular support for the referendum, which he had put forward in order to implement more decentralization.

Alan Boher (1969-1969)

The presidency of the Senate granted Alain Boehre the temporary presidency of France following de Gaulle's resignation in 1969. Boeher later ran for the presidency for the Democratic Center Party, but lost it to his opponent, Georges Pompidou.

Georges Pompidou (1969-1974)

He was Prime Minister under Charles de Gaulle between 1962 and 1968.

Pompidou was elected president of France for the "Uniting for Defense of the Republic" party in 1969, and remained in office until his death in 1974, when Pompidou is the first French president to die during his presidency due to cancer.

Alan Boeher came to replace him temporarily again.

Former Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy (right) and Jacques Chirac (Al Jazeera)

Valerie Giscard d'Estaing (1974-1981)

Former Finance Minister Giscard d'Estaing, who belonged to the center-right, led France for one presidential term between 1974 and 1981, and his presidency witnessed the adoption of an advanced liberal politics and the strengthening of European unity, then he was defeated by Socialist President Mitterrand in the 1981 elections.

François Mitterrand (1981-1995)

The first socialist president in the era of the French Fifth Republic, and its longest-serving presidents between 1981 and 1995.

His presidency saw the launch of several reform programs with social, economic and political dimensions.

Jacques Chirac (1995-2007)

He ran for and won the presidential elections in 1995 for the "Union for a Popular Movement" party, then was re-elected in 2002. Chirac retired from politics in 2011;

Because of his health conditions, he was prosecuted for misuse of public money.

Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2012)

The strong man in the French right, Sarkozy was elected president of France for one presidential term between 2007 and 2012, lost the presidential elections to Francois Hollande in 2012, and retired from political life permanently in 2016 after his failure in the primaries to represent the French right in the presidential elections.

François Hollande held the presidency for one term and announced that he did not wish to run for a second term (European)

François Hollande (2012-2017)

The second socialist president after François Mitterrand under the so-called "Fifth Republic".

He led France for one term between 2012 and 2017.

Holland announced in 2016 that he did not want to run for a second term.

Emmanuel Macron (2017-present)

Outgoing President Macron is the youngest president in the history of the French Fifth Republic (39 years).

In 2016, he resigned as Minister of Economy, Industry and Digital Economy in President Hollande's government, founded the "France Forward" movement, and then won the second round of the 2017 presidential election against his opponent, Marine Le Pen.