WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO BECOME PRESIDENT OF FRANCE?
Any French citizen having reached the age of 23 and having satisfied the requirements of French law concerning military service. A person wishing to become a candidate must be sponsored by 500 elected officials from at least 30 different departments or overseas territories, no more than one-tenth of them elected within a single department or overseas territory. The list of these sponsors (names and qualifications) is published by the Constitutional Council. No candidature is acceptable without these “500 signatures.” II – WHAT IS THE LENGTH OF THE PRESIDENT’S TERM OF OFFICE? Seven years. The President may stand for re-election at the conclusion of his seven-year term. Franois Mitterrand is the only President since 1875 to have served two terms (consecutively from 1981 to 1995). III – MAY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC EXERCISE ANY OTHER FUNCTION? He is not eligible to exercise any other public or private function. IV – HOW IS THE PRESIDENT ELECTED? The French President is elected by dir
