French legislative election, 1919

French legislative election, 1919

16 and 30 November 1919

All 613 seats to the Chamber of Deputies 307 seats were needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party   Leader Raymond Poincaré (ARD) Auguste Isaac Party ARD-RI ERD Leader's seat (President) Rhône Last election 154 seats 94 seats (UR + ALP)^* Seats won 200 183 Seat change 46 89 Popular vote 1,393,540 1,819,691 Percentage 17.10% 22.33% Swing 9.2%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Édouard Herriot Léon Blum Party PRRRS SFIO Leader's seat Rhône Narbonne Last election 172 seats 101 seats Seats won 86 68 Seat change 86 33 Popular vote 1,420,381 1,728,663 Percentage 17.43% 21.22% Swing 0.7% 4.1%

^* This figure is notional as a variety of members of other parties (including the ARD) also joined the Entente Républicaine Démocratique.

Government before election Georges Clemenceau II Independent (Union sacrée) Elected Government Alexandre Millerand I Independent (National Bloc)

The 1919 legislative election, the first election held after World War I, was held on 16 and 30 November 1919.

It resulted in a decisive victory for the right-wing Bloc National.

Proportional representation by department replaced the two-round system by arrondissements in use since 1889. However, a provision of the system allowed a party to win all the seats in a certain constituency if it had won over 50% of all votes cast.

Campaign

The formation of electoral lists needed to take into account of three factors: on one hand, the tendency of the opinion to think that the Union sacrée needed to be prolonged in peacetime in order to solve the new problems of France of the post-war period; on the other hand, the refusal of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), then in crisis, to discuss the question of the Bolshevism. To preserve their unity, the Socialists decided in April 1919 not to conclude any agreement ahead of the legislative elections. This decision isolated the radicals, forced to give up a new alliance of the left, and allowed an aggressive campaign of the right and centre directed against the SFIO, accused of Bolshevism; finally, the persistence of partisan divisions within the right. The monarchists of Action française were isolated, but the nationalists, the Catholics, and the "progressives" (who are in fact the moderate republicans from the pre-war period) brought together the moderate republicans of the center-right, gathered in several small organizations, all members of Democratic Alliance, but rejected any possibility of an agreement with the radicals. The radicals were found stuck between the SFIO which hesitated between radicalization and the status quo, and a right more than ever anti-leftist.

Following complex negotiations, 324 lists were formed. The Socialists chose homogeneous lists, while the radicals divided between lists allied with the center-right and isolated lists. The lists of the Bloc National gathered the members of the Democratic Republican Alliance, the progressives, the nationalists and the Catholics. Alexandre Millerand managed to gather around him a very broad coalition in his stronghold of the second sector of the Seine by advocating a reinforcement of the presidential powers.

Results

The results were, except for the SFIO, which made gains, managing to run candidates in all constituencies; rather confusing. Radicals, particularly when they were isolated, tended to decline, and the victory of the Bloc National was without ambiguity: a blue wave hit the Chamber of Deputies, called the "blue horizon chamber", because of the great number of ex-World War I servicemen who sat there (44% of the total of the deputies). This victory would remain the largest victory of the right and the centre-right until the 1968 legislative election. 60% of the deputies in this legislature were newly elected.

Popular vote

Summary of the popular vote in the 11 and 25 May 1919 Chamber of Deputies election results

Alliance		Votes	%	Party		Abbr.	Votes	%
	National Bloc	4,353,025	53.42		Republican Federation (Fédération républicaine)	FR	1,819,691	22.33
					Independents (Indépendents) and Conservatives (Conservateurs)	Ind	1,139,794	13.99
					Democratic Republican Party (Parti républicain démocratique)	PRD	889,177	10.91
					Independent Radicals (Radicaux indépendents)	RI	504,363	6.19
	French Section of the Workers' International (Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière)					SFIO	1,728,663	21.22
	Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party (Parti républicain, radical et radical-socialiste)					PRRRS	1,420,381	17.43
	Republican-Socialist Party (Parti républicain-socialiste)					PRS	283,001	3.47
	Independent Socialists (Socialistes indépendants)					SI	147,053	1.80
	Veterans (Anciens combattants)						128,004	1.57
	Other parties					Div	87,963	1.08
Total								100
Abstention: 29.78%

Popular vote
FR			22.33%
SFIO			21.22%
PRRRS			17.43%
Ind			13.99%
PRD			10.91%
RI			6.19%
PRS			3.47%
SI			1.80%
Veterans			1.57%
Others			1.08%

Parliamentary Groups

Affiliation	Party		Seats
Left
		French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO)	68[1]
Centre-Left
		Republican-Socialist Party (PRS)	26
		Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party (PRRRS)	86
Centre-Right
		Democratic Republican Left	93
		Republican and Social Action	46
		Republicans of the Left	61
Right
		Democratic and Republican Union	183
		Independents	29
Non-inscrits
			21
Total			613

1. Following the Tours Congress in 1920, 53 remained members of the SFIO and 15 joined the new French Communist Party, then known as the SFIC.

References and notes

• Popular Vote on France-politique.fr
• Parliamentary Groups on France-politique.fr