One of the reasons De Gaulle was able to win the referendum on universal suffrage for the election of the President of the Republic was that the precedent presidential election, in 1954, had been covered by TV - so early in the TV period, politicians weren't aware of the dangers of it exposing to all their back room negotiations.

The 1954 election was so disputed, that it went to the 13th round of voting. The election intervened recently after a very tough debate and split vote on the Communauté Européenne de Défense - the failure of which being the reason that the European Countries mainly developed the Common Market at first.

The reason René Coty was eventually elected was that because he had suffered an heart attack at the time of the CED vote, he had not expressed any opinion on the issue and thus was the only candidate who could get the 3/5th majority needed to elect a president.

A "public" debate requires universal suffrage. Why not set it up now ?

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères