On December 22, 1958 (the twelfth day of the lunar month), de Gaulle was elected the first president of the French Fifth Republic.

On December 22, 1958, France held a presidential election. The election results were completely unexpected-Charles de Gaulle was elected President of France.

The provisions on presidential powers in the current French "Constitution" formulated by Charles de Gaulle were designed for him to become president himself. According to this "constitution", the president's term of office is seven years, and the president has great powers: he has the right to appoint the prime minister and agree with him on the list of other members of the cabinet; he will play an "arbitration" role between the cabinet and the parliament. When there are serious differences between the government and the parliament, he has the right to dissolve the parliament, he has the right to enact laws, and he can bypass the parliament to submit these bills to a "referendum"; he not only has the right to ratify international treaties, but also has the right to negotiate and sign such treaties; He also has the power to take over the government when the country is in a "state of emergency." The entire "Constitution" does not include any provisions that impose any restrictions or supervision on this absolute power of the president.

According to the provisions of de Gaulle's "Constitution," the president is elected by an "Electoral College" of more than 81,000 people, including members of the French National Assembly and the Senate, members of the provincial and municipal assemblies in mainland France, members of the parliaments of the overseas territories, and the mayors of major French cities. Nonetheless, the presidential candidate put forward by the French Communist Party, Malin, still received 13.8% of the valid votes in this election. In the Paris district in particular, Malin's votes were very limited compared to De Gaulle's votes.