Vive la révolution! But is France ready to establish a Sixth Republic?

People demonstrate on the streets of Paris as this year's May Day protests coincide with weeks of public outrage over a pension-reform law. Photograph: Ameer Alhalbi/Getty Images

In autumn 1958, soon after 82% of voters had backed a new constitution for arguably western Europe’s least governable country, Charles de Gaulle turned to his confidant, Alain Peyrefitte, and observed, with evident satisfaction, that he had successfully reconciled monarchy and republic.

But as France’s Fifth Republic nears its 65th anniversary later this year, there can have been few moments in its history when it has seemed more contested – and it is the constitution’s elevation of the nation’s president to the status, almost, of an elected monarch that appears most to blame.