To further my point I looked up the French presidential election procedures; I found the German article more informative than the English one, so I had Copilot

To further my point I looked up the French presidential election procedures; I found the German article more informative than the English one, so I had Copilot translate that one. Turns out there were several referendums over the decades where French voters changed the rules, and they of course vote directly for a candidate. Before you can become a candidate, you have to secure a certain level of support from incumbent elected politicians; there's also a modicum of territorial distribution to the rules to ensure no single region can dominate (wonder how well that works). Anyhoo if you think that France's system is Rule of the Mob then here's why that is so; if you think it's a relatively stable, relatively democratic country, then here's how they manage to be a republic and still allow people to vote directly for presidential candidates: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pr%C3%A4sidentschaftswahl_in_Frankreich https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pr%C3%A4sidentschaftswahl_in_F..., translated by Copilot: The election of the French President is governed by Articles 6 and 7 of the Constitution of the Fifth French Republic. Since a referendum in 1962, the President has been directly elected by eligible voters. If no candidate receives an absolute majority of votes in the first round, a runoff election is held between the two candidates who received the most votes in the initial round. In every election so far, a runoff has been necessary. The highest vote share in the first round was achieved by Charles de Gaulle in the 1965 presidential election with 44.6%. The term of office for Presidents was reduced from seven to five years through a referendum in 2000. Since 2002, the French elect the head of state and the members of the National Assembly for five-year terms. Re-election is possible any number of times, but no more than two consecutive terms are allowed. To run for election, a candidate must be at least 18 years old and eligible to vote. Additionally, they must gather at least 500 signatures from supporters who hold elected political offices. Approximately 42,000 officeholders are eligible, including mayors, National Assembly members, senators, and regional or departmental councilors. These signatures must come from at least 30 different departments or French overseas territories, with no department contributing more than one-tenth of the required signatures (i.e., 50 signatures).