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Chirac, Jacques

Jacques-René Chirac

b. 29 Nov 1932, Paris
d. 26 Sep 2019, Paris

Title: Président de la République (President of the Republic)
Term: 17 May 1995 - 16 May 2002
Chronology: 7 May 1995, elected by direct popular voting
17 May 1995, installed as president, installation ceremony, Salle des Fêtes, Palais de l'Elysée, Paris [1; 6]
16 May 2002, 24:00, expiration of term (Decision of the Constitutional Council of 8 May 2002)
Term: 17 May 2002 - 16 May 2007
Chronology: 5 May 2002, re-elected by direct popular voting
16 May 2002, installed as president, installation ceremony, Salle des Fêtes, Palais de l'Elysée, Paris [2; 8]
17 May 2002, 00:00, presidential term commenced (Decision of the Constitutional Council of 8 May 2002) [8]
16 May 2007, expiration of term
Biography:

Jacques Chirac was elected to the National Assembly as a Gaullist successively from 1967. After serving as minister for agriculture (5 Jul 1972 - Mar 1974) and of the interior (1 Mar 1974 - May 1974), Chirac was appointed prime minister (27 May 1974 - 26 Aug 1976) by newly elected President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. Resigning that office in 1976 because of personal and political disputes with Giscard, Chirac reconstituted the Gaullist party known as the Union of Democrats for the Republic into a neo-Gaullist group, the Rally for the Republic (RPR). He served as mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995. His first campaign for the presidency in 1981 split the conservative vote with Giscard d'Estaing and thereby allowed the Socialist candidate, François Mitterrand, to win. Appoited by Mitterrand prime minister (20 Mar 1986 - 10 May 1988) after the victory of the right parties at parliamentary elections, Chirac ran for the presidency against Mitterrand and was defeated in runoff elections in May 1988. He made his third run for the presidency in May 1995 and this time defeated the Socialist candidate, Lionel Jospin. Biography source: [4]
Elections:

Candidate Popular vote (23 Apr 1995) % ballots cast % valid votes Popular vote (7 May 1995) % ballots cast % valid votes
Lionel-Robert Jospin 7,097,786 17.74 23.30 14,180,644 35.47 47.36
Jacques-René Chirac 6,348,375 15.87 20.84 15,763,027 39.43 52.64
Édouard Balladur 5,658,796 14.15 18.58 - - -
Jean-Marie Le Pen 4,570,838 11.43 15.00 - - -
Robert Hue 2,632,460 6.58 8.64 - - -
Arlette-Yvonne Laguiller 1,615,552 4.04 5.30 - - -
Philippe Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon 1,443,186 3.61 4.74 - - -
Dominique Voynet 1,010,681 2.53 3.31 - - -
Jacques Cheminade 84,959 0.21 0.28 - - -
ballots cast 39,992,912 - - 39,976,944 - -
votes without abstentions 31,345,794 78.38 - 31,845,819 79.66 -
votes valid 30,462,633 76.17 - 29,943,671 74.90 -
votes invalid 883,161 2.21 - 1,902,148 4.76 -
abstentions 8,647,118 21.62 - 8,131,125 20.34 -
Candidate Popular vote (21 Apr 2002) % ballots cast % valid votes Popular vote (5 May 2002) % ballots cast % valid votes
Jacques-René Chirac 5,665,855 13.75 19.88 25,537,956 62.00 82.21
Jean-Marie Le Pen 4,804,713 11.66 16.86 5,525,032 13.41 17.79
Lionel-Robert Jospin 4,610,113 11.19 16.17 - - -
François Bayrou 1,949,170 4.73 6.83 - - -
Arlette-Yvonne Laguiller 1,630,045 3.95 5.72 - - -
Jean-Pierre Chevènement 1,518,528 3.68 5.32 - - -
Noël-Jean Mamère 1,495,724 3.63 5.24 - - -
Olivier-Christophe Besancenot 1,210,562 2.93 4.24 - - -
Jean Saint-Josse 1,204,689 2.92 4.22 - - -
Alain Madelin 1,113,484 2.70 3.90 - - -
Robert Hue 960,480 2.33 3.37 - - -
Bruno-André-Alexandre Mégret 667,026 1.61 2.34 - - -
Christiane-Marie Taubira (épouse Delannon) [3] 660,447 1.60 2.31 - - -
Corinne-Dominique-Marguerite Lepage (épouse Huglo) [3] 535,837 1.30 1.88 - - -
Christine-Marcelle-Valérie-Cécile-Marie Martin, épouse Boutin 339,112 0.82 1.19 - - -
Daniel Gluckstein 132,686 0.32 0.46 - - -
ballots cast 41,194,689 - - 41,191,169 - -
votes without abstentions 29,495,733 71.60 - 32,832,295 79.70 -
votes valid 28,498,471 69.18 - 31,062,988 75.41 -
votes invalid 997,262 2.42 - 1,769,307 4.29 -
abstentions 11,698,956 28.40 - 8,358,874 20.29 -
Information source for election results: 1995 [5; 6], 2002 [7; 8].

[1] The Decision of the Constitutional Council of the French Republic of 12 May 1995 [6] enabled the outgoing President François Mitterand to choose any time for the transfer of presidential authority not later than 00:00 21 May 1995. Thus, the installation ceremony took place four days before the deadline, on 17 May 1995.
[2] The ceremony of installation was held several hours before the second term of Chirac as president officially commenced at 00:00 17 May 2002 according to the Decision of the Constitutional Council of 8 May 2002 [8].
[3] Did not use her name-by-marriage.
[4] "Who's Who in France".
[5] Journal Officiel de la République Française, 27 Apr 1995, p. 6503.
[6] Journal Officiel de la République Française, 14 May 1995, p. 8149.
[7] Journal Officiel de la République Française, 25 Apr 2002, p. 7369.
[8] Journal Officiel de la République Française, 10 May 2002, p. 9084.
Image: © Documentation française. Ph. Gisèle Freund. Photograph displayed at the Presidency of the French Republic official web site.
Last update: 29 Nov 2023
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