“The motion of censure is adopted”: only one precedent, October 5, 1962, to bring down the Pompidou government

If the motion of censure is adopted in a few hours this Wednesday, December 4, it will not be the first of its kind under the Fifth Republic.

Indeed, one precedent exists, only one. Occurred on October 5, 1962, to bring down the government of Georges Pompidou. The majority required for its adoption was then 241 votes, the motion then tabled had collected 280.

Universal suffrage then at stake

At the origin of this unprecedented episode under the Fifth Republic born in 1958, an initiative of the President of the Republic, General de Gaulle, who had proposed on September 20 a major reform of the Constitution: whereas since 1958 and the establishment of the regime that he himself had put in place (to the great dismay of a young opponent named François Mitterrand who then denounced “a permanent coup d'état”), the President of the Republic was elected by a college of electors, this reform project proposed that he henceforth be elected by universal suffrage.

And the Head of State aims to submit this modification of the Constitution to a referendum.

A motion of censure adopted by 58%

Oppositions coalesce, rebel, fearing a further strengthening of the role of a President of the Republic dubbed directly by the people, and, therefore, an imbalance of institutions to the disadvantage of parliamentarians. In a burning context (Petit-Clamart attack from which Charles de Gaulle escaped, Algerian war ending), the motion of censure is therefore adopted by the deputies.

Referendum and early legislative elections

But what could seem like a setback for those in power turned into a triumph for the Gaullists: President de Gaulle kept Pompidou to manage current affairs, dissolved the assembly, organized his referendum and announced early legislative elections.

In the referendum, the French voted 62% in favor of universal suffrage, and the Gaullists won the legislative elections from which they emerged with an absolute majority. De Gaulle can thus continue to exercise absolute power at the Elysée, while retaining Pompidou at Matignon.

Michel Crespy: “Nothing comparable”

A scenario that Emmanuel Macron did not even dare to dream of… “But there is nothing comparable between 1962 and today” notes Montpellier political scientist Michel Crespy. “Absolutely all parties, except the Gaullist party, the UNR, were against the idea of ​​universal suffrage for the presidential election. So of course, the current motion is also a motion against Emmanuel Macron, but the analogy ends there. “

And ironically: “The electoral base of President de Gaulle was 62%, as we saw in the referendum that followed. Macron's must be 25% at best. If he held a referendum on stuffed cabbages, he would lose it too! And then there is this enormous difference: de Gaulle was able to dissolve Macron immediately, but not before July in any case.