The first senatorial elections of the Fifth Republic were held in France on April 26, 1959.[1]
The Senate was created by constitution of the Fifth Republic to replace Council of the Republic. This election depend largely of the results of 1959 municipal elections.
On April 28, 1959, Gaston Monnerville a senator from Guyane was elected president of the Senate. Monnerville has been the highest-ranking black politician in French history, and if he was a candidate for reelection in 1968, he could have become the first black president of France the next year when President Pompidou died.[2]