The president of France (ex officio also a co-prince of Andorra) is elected by direct popular vote to a five-year term.
If the office falls vacant before the end of five years, an election to a new five-year term is held, generally within 20 to 35 days of the vacancy.
[8] Depending on their respective results in the election, they are eligible to different modalities of reimbursement of their campaign expenses by the state.
[9] The state also monitors appearances on television and radio programmes through its Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (ARCOM) to ensure equal airtime between candidates during the campaign; each candidate has the right to a certain amount of time not to be exceeded per media platform.
[13] The French constitutional law of 23 July 2008 proposed by President Nicolas Sarkozy following an election pledge introduced term limits.
[14] Currently, the President of the French Republic is elected to a five-year term in a two-round election under Article 7 of the Constitution: if no candidate secures an absolute majority (including blank and void ballots) of votes in the first round, a second round is held two weeks later between the two candidates who received the most votes.