Incumbent president Charles de Gaulle proposed a referendum on government decentralisation and a reform of the Senate.

Following the announcement of the results, De Gaulle resigned as president at noon the following day, having threatened to do so if the referendum had failed.

[1] In the presidential election, the Gaullist Party (Union of Democrats for the Republic, UDR) was represented by former Prime Minister Georges Pompidou.

He was very popular in the conservative electorate due to economic growth when he led the cabinet (from 1962 to 1968) and his role in the settlement of the May 68 crisis and winning the June 1968 legislative campaign.

In his presidential campaign, he obtained the support of the Independent Republicans and their leader Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who had voted "no" in the referendum.

The success of the "no" campaign gave him the legitimacy to run for the presidency and he rallied a large swathe of centre-right and centre-left voters.