1997 French legislative election
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All 577 seats in the National Assembly 289 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 67.92% (first round) 71.07% (second round) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
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Legislative elections were held in France on 25 May and 1 June 1997 to elect the 11th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic. It was the consequence of President Jacques Chirac's decision to call the legislative election one year before the deadline.[1]
In March 1993 the right won a large victory in the legislative election and a comfortable parliamentary majority. Two years later, the RPR leader Jacques Chirac was elected President of France promising to reduce the "social fracture". However, the programme of welfare reforms ("Plan Juppé") proposed by his Prime Minister Alain Juppé caused a social crisis in November and December 1995. The popularity of the executive duo decreased.
In spring 1997 President Chirac tried to take the left-wing opposition by surprise by dissolving the National Assembly. The first opinion polls indicated a re-election of the right-wing majority. The "
In the first round, the left-wing coalition obtained more votes than the incumbent parliamentary majority. After he was blamed for the situation, Juppé announced he would resign even if the right kept their majority in the runoff vote. For all that, the "Plural left" obtained the majority of the seats; however the Socialists needed its allies to form a majority. For the first time, the ecologists were represented in the Parliament. The participation of the
This was the first time since 1877 that a President of France lost a legislative election that he had called. The Socialist leader Lionel Jospin became Prime Minister of the third cohabitation. It finished with the 2002 French presidential election, which Jospin unexpectedly lost in the first round, causing his retirement from politics.
Results
Party | First round | Second round | Total seats | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
Socialist Party | 5,961,612 | 23.53 | 9,751,423 | 38.05 | 255 | |
Rally for the Republic | 3,977,964 | 15.70 | 5,846,717 | 22.82 | 139 | |
National Front | 3,785,383 | 14.94 | 1,434,854 | 5.60 | 1 | |
Union for French Democracy | 3,601,279 | 14.21 | 5,323,177 | 20.77 | 112 | |
French Communist Party | 2,519,281 | 9.94 | 982,990 | 3.84 | 35 | |
The Greens | 1,726,018 | 6.81 | 414,871 | 1.62 | 7 | |
Miscellaneous right | 1,671,626 | 6.60 | 628,468 | 2.45 | 2 | |
Miscellaneous left | 708,605 | 2.80 | 652,882 | 2.55 | 11 | |
Far-left | 638,710 | 2.52 | 0 | |||
Radical-Socialist Party | 366,067 | 1.44 | 562,031 | 2.19 | 12 | |
Miscellaneous | 351,503 | 1.39 | 28,916 | 0.11 | 3 | |
Far-right | 26,438 | 0.10 | 0 | |||
Total | 25,334,486 | 100.00 | 25,626,329 | 100.00 | 577 | |
Valid votes | 25,334,486 | 95.11 | 25,626,329 | 93.68 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 1,301,456 | 4.89 | 1,727,669 | 6.32 | ||
Total votes | 26,635,942 | 100.00 | 27,353,998 | 100.00 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 39,217,241 | 67.92 | 38,487,205 | 71.07 | ||
Source: National Assembly |
Parliamentary groups in the National Assembly
Group | Members | Caucusing | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Socialist Group | 242 | 8 | 250 | |
RPR Group | 136 | 6 | 140 | |
UDF Group | 107 | 6 | 113 | |
Communist Group | 34 | 2 | 36 | |
33 | 0 | 33 | ||
Non-Inscrits | 5 | 0 | 5 | |
Total | 555 | 22 | 577 |
See also
References
- ^ "Elections held in 1993". Inter-Parliamentary Union.