1956 French legislative election

1956 French legislative election

← 1951 2 January 1956 1958 →
544 seats in the National Assembly
Turnout	81.98% ( 1.79pp)
First party Second party Third party   CNI Leader Maurice Thorez none Guy Mollet Party PCF CNIP SFIO Last election 97 seats 87 seats 94 seats Seats won 147 95 88 Seat change 50 8 6 Popular vote 5,514,403 3,259,782 3,247,431 Percentage 25.89% 15.30% 15.25%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Pierre-Henri Teitgen Pierre Mendès France (Radical) René Pleven (UDSR) Pierre Poujade Party MRP Radical–UDSR UFF Last election 82 seats – – Seats won 71 73 51 Seat change 11 New New Popular vote 2,366,321 2,389,163 2,483,813 Percentage 11.11% 11.22% 11.66%
Results by department
Prime Minister before election Edgar Faure PRV Elected Prime Minister Guy Mollet SFIO

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Legislative elections were held in France on 2 January 1956 to elect the third National Assembly of the Fourth Republic. The elections were held using party-list proportional representation.^[1][2] The elections had been scheduled for June 1956; however, they were brought forward by Edgar Faure using a constitutional sanction.^[3]

The previous legislative elections in 1951 had been won by the

, who then retired.

The defeat in the

. This one led a more repressive policy in Algeria.

The far-right, led by Pierre Poujade, re-appeared at about the same time. He was a critic of "fiscalism", and leader of a shopkeepers and craftsmen's movement. Many voters seemed tired of the political system's numerous ministerial crises, and he had much support in the rural areas, which were in decline.

The anticipated legislative elections took place when Faure was defeated by the National Assembly. Even though the

(which had been abandoned by those groups which had now joined the Republican Front) into a party that he led, and he campaigned with the center-right parties. The French Communist Party remained the largest party and the Republican Front obtained a relative majority in order to end the Algerian War.

The Poujadists won 51 seats versus predictions of six to eight, including a young Jean-Marie Le Pen,^[4] and the press stated that they held the balance of power. Media reception was mixed, with the result welcomed by communist supporters and condemned by papers such as The Times, Le Figaro,^[5] and The Saturday Evening Post.^[4]

The coalition cabinet was led by the Socialist leader

in Algeria incited him into leading a very repressive policy against the Algerian nationalists. This policy was criticized by Vice-Prime Minister Mendès-France and other members of the cabinet, who resigned, splitting the Republican Front. Mollet and his successors floundered in the conflict until May 1958.

147 88 73 16 71 95 51 3
Party		Votes	%	Seats
	French Communist Party	5,514,403	25.89	147
	Moderates	3,259,782	15.30	95
	French Section of the Workers' International	3,247,431	15.25	88
	Union for the Defense of Tradesmen and Artisans	2,483,813	11.66	51
	Republican Front (Radical Party–UDSR)	2,389,163	11.22	73
	Radical Party–RGR–UDSR (non-Front)	838,231	3.94
	Popular Republican Movement	2,366,321	11.11	71
	National Centre of Social Republicans (non-Front)	585,764	2.75	16
	National Centre of Social Republicans	256,587	1.20
	Far-right	260,749	1.22	0
	Miscellaneous	98,600	0.46	3
Total		21,300,844	100.00	544
Valid votes		21,300,844	97.05
Invalid/blank votes		647,160	2.95
Total votes		21,948,004	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		26,772,255	81.98
Source: Mackie & Rose,[6] Becker