1945 French legislative election

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1945 French legislative election
France
← 1936 21 October 1945 June 1946 →

All 522 seats in the Constituent Assembly
262 seats needed for a majority
Turnout79.83%
Party Leader % Seats
PCF Maurice Thorez 26.08 148
MRP Maurice Schumann 23.77 141
SFIO
Guy Mollet 23.77 134
Conservatives 13.27 62
Radicals 11.11 35
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Results by department
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after
Independent
Independent
French newsreel before the elections

Legislative elections were held in France on 21 October 1945 to elect a Constituent Assembly to draft a constitution for a

Fourth French Republic. A total of 522 seats were elected through proportional representation
; women were allowed to vote for the first time.

Parties and issues

On 21 October 1945 the French voters were called to make two choices: the election of their deputies and a

Three parties alliance
" called for a "Yes" vote, whereas the Radicals and the Conservatives campaigned for a "No".

Symbol of the

National Council of Resistance: the creation of a welfare state, and the nationalization of banks and major industrial companies (such as Renault). The opposition was composed of the parties which had dominated the pre-war governments of the Third Republic: the Radical Party
and the classical Right.

Results

Unsurprisingly, the "Three-parties alliance" won a large majority in the National Assembly. The Radical Party, which had been the leading party of the left in the Third Republic, suffered a catastrophic result, and the right was equally destroyed (because of its support of Marshal

bicameral legislature. De Gaulle advocated a presidential government. He resigned in January 1946. The PCF and SFIO proposals were rejected in the 5 May 1946 referendum
. This assembly was dissolved.

PartyVotes%Seats
French Communist Party5,005,33626.08148
Popular Republican Movement4,780,33824.91141
French Section of the Workers' International4,561,41123.77134
Conservatives (AD–DM–ER–PP–PRL)2,545,84513.2762
Radicals (RS–RG–IG–PRRS–RGR)2,131,76311.1135
Others165,1060.862
Total19,189,799100.00522
Valid votes19,189,79997.62
Invalid/blank votes467,8042.38
Total votes19,657,603100.00
Registered voters/turnout24,622,86279.83
Source: Nohlen & Stöver[1]

References

Further reading

  • Footitt, Hilary and John Simmonds. France, 1943–1945 (1988)
  • Graham, Bruce Desmond. The French socialists and tripartisme, 1944–1947 (University of Toronto Press, 1965)
  • Knapp, Andrew, ed. Uncertain Foundation: France at the Liberation 1944–47 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)