The Fourth Republic had suffered from a lack of political consensus, a weak executive, and governments forming and falling in quick succession since 1946.

With no party or coalition able to sustain a parliamentary majority, prime ministers found themselves unable to risk their political position with unpopular reforms.

Algeria in particular, despite being the colony with the largest French population, saw rising pressure for separation from Metropolitan France.

Further complications came when a section of the French Army rebelled and openly backed the Algérie française movement to defeat separation.

[8][page needed] Charles de Gaulle, who had retired from politics a decade before, placed himself in the midst of the crisis, calling on the nation to suspend the government and create a new constitutional system.

The president, under the proposed constitution, would have executive powers to run the country in consultation with a prime minister whom he would appoint.

The new constitution contained transitional clauses (articles 90–92) extending the period of rule by decree until the new institutions were operating.

Although the method and intent of de Gaulle in that referendum were contested by most political groups except for the Gaullists, the change was approved by the French electorate.

[19] Traditionally, France operated according to parliamentary supremacy: no authority was empowered to rule on whether statutes passed by Parliament respected the constitutional rights of the citizens.

Socialist (PS) Centrist (RE) Republican (UDF) Gaullist (UNR; UDR; RPR) Neo-Gaullist (UMP; LR) Source: "Former Prime Ministers of the Fifth Republic".