French presidential election: Having won the popular vote in a landslide, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte is inaugurated in the chamber of the National Assembly as the first (and only) president of the French Second Republic.

Presidential elections were held for the first time in France on 10 and 11 December 1848, electing the first and only president of the Second Republic. The election was held on 10 December 1848 and led to the victory of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte with 74% of the popular vote. This was the only direct presidential election until the 1965 French presidential election. The six candidates in the election, in order of most votes received, are Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte of the Bonapartists, Louis Eugène Cavaignac of the moderate Republicans, Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin of the Montagnards, François-Vincent Raspail of the Socialists, Alphonse de Lamartine of the Liberals, and Nicolas Changarnier of the Monarchists.

Napoleon III was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last monarch of France.

The Palais Bourbon is the meeting place of the National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French Parliament. It is in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, on the Rive Gauche of the Seine across from the Place de la Concorde. The official address is on the Rue de l'Université, facing the Place du Palais-Bourbon.

The French Second Republic, officially the French Republic, was the second republican government of France. It existed from 1848 until its dissolution in 1852.

December 20 is the 354th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 11 days remain until the end of the year.