French legislative election, 1993

French legislative election, 1993

21 March and 28 March 1993

All 577 seats to the French National Assembly 289 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader Jacques Chirac Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Pierre Bérégovoy Party RPR UDF PS Leader's seat Corrèze-3rd Puy-de-Dôme-3rd Nièvre 1st Last election 126 seats 129 seats 260 seats Seats won 242 207 53 Seat change 116 78 207 Popular vote 5,032,496 (1st round) 5,741,629 (2nd round) 4,731,013 (1st round) 5,178,039 (2nd round) 4,415,495 (1st round) 6,143,179 (2nd round) Percentage 20.08% (1st round) 28.99% (2nd round) 18.71% (1st round) 26.14% (2nd round) 17.61% (1st round) 31.01% (2nd round)   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Georges Marchais Jean-Marie Le Pen Party PCF FN Leader's seat none Last election 27 seats 1 seat Seats won 24 1 Seat change 3 0 Popular vote 2,331,339 (1st round) 951,213 (2nd round) 3,152,543 (1st round) 1,168,160 (2nd round) Percentage 9.30% (1st round) 4.80% (2nd round) 12.58% (1st round) 5.90% (2nd round)

PM before election Pierre Bérégovoy PS Elected PM Edouard Balladur RPR

French legislative elections took place on 21 and 28 March 1993 to elect the tenth National Assembly of the Fifth Republic.

Since 1988, President François Mitterrand and his Socialist cabinets had relied on a relative parliamentary majority. In an attempt to avoid having to work with the Communists, Prime Minister Michel Rocard tried to gain support from the UDF by appointing four UDF ministers. After the UDF withdrew its support for the government in 1991, Rocard and the UDF ministers resigned. The UDF then became allied with the Gaullist Rally for the Republic (RPR).

The Socialist Party (PS) was further weakened by scandals (involving illicit financing, contaminated blood and other affairs) and an intense rivalry between François Mitterrand's potential successors (Lionel Jospin and Laurent Fabius). In March 1992, the Socialists were punished at the local elections. Prime Minister Édith Cresson was replaced by Pierre Bérégovoy. The latter promised to struggle against economic recession and corruption, but he was himself suspected to have received a loan from a controversial businessman, Roger-Patrice Pelat.

The election was a landslide victory for the RPR-UDF alliance, while the PS and their left-wing allies received their worst result since the 1960s. The PS lost nearly 80% of the seats they had held at the time of the chamber's dissolution. This caused a crisis within the PS; Fabius lost his position as First Secretary in favour of Rocard, who claimed that a political "big bang" was needed. Jospin announced his political retirement after he was defeated in his Haute-Garonne constituency. Depressed by the defeat and the accusations about the loan from Pelat, Pierre Bérégovoy committed suicide on 1 May.

Some traditional PS voters had voted for the Greens in the first round. These ecologists obtained a total of 10.84%, making this the best total score for French Green parties in legislative elections. However, only two ecologists qualified for the runoff, including Dominique Voynet in her constituency in the Doubs département. Both of these candidates were eventually defeated. Lack of major political allies for these ecologists explained this failure to take any seats.

The RPR-UDF coalition formed the largest parliamentary majority since 1958, taking a total of 485 seats or 84% of the 577 seats. The RPR leader Jacques Chirac demanded President Mitterrand's resignation and refused to be Prime Minister in a new "cohabitation" government. Finally, he suggested the nomination of his former RPR Finance Minister Edouard Balladur at the head of the government. Balladur promised publicly that he would not run against Chirac for the next presidential election. The second "cohabitation" finished with the 1995 presidential election.

Results

Composition of seats of each political party in the French National Assembly following the 1993 election

Map showing the results of the second round

Parties and coalitions			1st round		2nd round		Total seats
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Rally for the Republic (Rassemblement pour la République)	RPR	5,032,496	20.08	5,741,629	28.99	242
	Union for French Democracy (Union pour la démocratie française)	UDF	4,731,013	18.71	5,178,039	26.14	207
	Miscellaneous Right	DVD	1,118,032	4.46	588,455	2.97	36
Total "Union for France" (Right)			10,881,541	43.25	11,508,123	58.01	485
	Socialist Party (Parti socialiste)	PS	4,415,495	17.61	6,143,179	31.01	53
	French Communist Party (Parti communiste français)	PCF	2,331,339	9.30	951,213	4.80	24
	Miscellaneous Left including the Movement of Left Radicals (Mouvement des radicaux de gauche)	DVG-MRG	693,945	2.77	unknown	unknown	14
Total Left ("Presidential Majority" and PCF)			7,440,779	29.68	7,094,392	35.81	91
	The Greens(Les Verts)	VEC	1,022,196	4.08	37,491	0.19	-
	Ecology Generation (Génération Écologie)	GE	917,228	3.66	-	-	-
	New Ecology (Nouvelle Écologie)	GE	635,244	2.53	-	-	-
	Ecologists		141,645	0.57	-	-	-
Total Ecologists			2,716,313	11.00	37,491	0.19	0
	National Front (Front national)	FN	3,152,543	12.58	1,168,160	5.90	1
	Far-Left		423,282	1.69	-	-	-
	Miscellaneous		329,275	1.31	-	-	-
	Nationalist right and Eurosceptics		70,920	0.28	-	-	-
	Far-right		35,411	0.14	-	-	-
	Regionalists		35,411	0.14	-	-	-
	Total		25,378,158	100.00	20,616,533	100.00	577
Abstention: 31.08% (1st round); 32.44% (2nd round)

Popular vote (first round)
RPR			20.06%
UDF			18.86%
PS			17.60%
FN			12.57%
ECO			10.83%
PCF			9.29%
DVD			4.46%
DVG			2.77%
EXG			1.69%
Others			1.88%

Incumbent	Department		Incumbent Party		Elected Party
Michel Rocard	Yvelines		PS		UDF
Lionel Jospin	Haute-Garonne		PS		UDF
Pierre Bérégovoy	Nièvre		PS
Jack Lang	Loir-et-Cher		PS
Roland Dumas	Dordogne		PS		RPR
Michel Delebarre	Nord		PS		DVG
Bernard Tapie	Bouches-du-Rhône		MRG
Dominique Strauss-Kahn	Val-d'Oise		PS		RPR
François Hollande	Corrèze		PS		RPR
Alain Juppé	Paris		RPR
Edouard Balladur	Paris		RPR
Jacques Chirac	Corrèze		RPR

10th Assembly by Parliamentary Group

Group		Members	Caucusing	Total
	RPR Group	245	12	257
	UDF Group	213	2	215
	Socialist Group	52	5	57
	Republic and Liberty Group	23	0	23
	Communist Group	22	1	23
	Non-Inscrits	2	0	2
	Total:	557	20	577