1997 French legislative election
France
25 May 1997 (first round)
1 June 1997 (second round)

All 577 seats in the National Assembly
289 seats needed for a majority
Turnout67.92% (first round)
71.07% (second round)
PartyLeader % Seats +/–
PS Lionel Jospin 23.53 255 +201
RPR Alain Juppé 15.70 139 −108
FN Jean-Marie Le Pen 14.94 1 +1
UDF François Léotard 14.21 112 −101
PCF Robert Hue 9.94 35 +12
LV Dominique Voynet 6.81 7 +7
DVD 6.60 2 −22
DVG 2.80 11 +1
PRS Jean-Michel Baylet 1.44 12 +6
DIV 1.39 3 +3
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after
Alain Juppé
RPR
Lionel Jospin
PS

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 "Plural Left" coalition, composed of the Socialists, the Communists, the Greens, the Citizens' Movement, and the Left Radicals, proposed a program of social reforms to reduce unemployment and legislation to limit the length of the work week to 35 hours. Prime Minister Juppé's unpopularity, as well as the unpopularity of his government's policies, contributed to the left's triumph.

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 National Front's candidates in the second round increased the defeat of the presidential majority.

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

PartyFirst roundSecond roundTotal
seats
Votes%Votes%
Socialist Party5,961,61223.539,751,42338.05255
Rally for the Republic3,977,96415.705,846,71722.82139
National Front3,785,38314.941,434,8545.601
Union for French Democracy3,601,27914.215,323,17720.77112
French Communist Party2,519,2819.94982,9903.8435
The Greens1,726,0186.81414,8711.627
Miscellaneous right1,671,6266.60628,4682.452
Miscellaneous left708,6052.80652,8822.5511
Far-left638,7102.520
Radical-Socialist Party366,0671.44562,0312.1912
Miscellaneous351,5031.3928,9160.113
Far-right26,4380.100
Total25,334,486100.0025,626,329100.00577
Valid votes25,334,48695.1125,626,32993.68
Invalid/blank votes1,301,4564.891,727,6696.32
Total votes26,635,942100.0027,353,998100.00
Registered voters/turnout39,217,24167.9238,487,20571.07
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
  Radical, Citizen and Green 33 0 33
  Non-Inscrits 5 0 5
Total 555 22 577

See also

References

  1. "Elections held in 1993". Inter-Parliamentary Union.
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