Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 19:54, 19 January 2024

This article does not cite any sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "1988 French legislative election" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

1988 French legislative election

← 1986 5June 1988 (first round) 12 June 1988 (second round) 1993 →
All 577 seats in the National Assembly 289 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	65.7% (1st round) 69.9% (2nd round)
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/– PS Michel Rocard 34.77 260 +54 RPR Jacques Chirac 19.19 126 −23 UDF Jean Lecanuet 18.50 129 +2 PCF Georges Marchais 11.32 27 −8 FN Jean-Marie Le Pen 9.66 1 −34 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Map showing the results of the second round Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Jacques Chirac Rally for the Republic Michel Rocard PS

Legislative elections were held in France on 5 and 12 June 1988, to elect the ninth National Assembly of the Fifth Republic, one month after the re-election of François Mitterrand as President of France.

In 1986, the Socialist Party (PS) of President Mitterrand lost the legislative election. For the first time under the Fifth Republic, the President was forced to "cohabit" with a hostile parliamentary majority and cabinet. He chose the RPR leader Jacques Chirac as Prime Minister. The two heads of the executive power were rivals for the 1988 presidential election.

Inspired by the example of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, Chirac campaigned on an aggressively right-wing set of policies (including privatizations, abolition of the solidarity tax on wealth and tightening restrictions on immigration) but he was faced with significant opposition in French society. For his part, Mitterrand presented himself as the protector of national unity. He campaigned for a "united France" and warned against "the appropriation of the state by a clan", targeting Chirac and the RPR. An alliance between the Socialists and the center-right UDF was evoked.

After Mitterrand's re-election, Chirac resigned. Some politicians and commentators suggested not dissolving the National Assembly and instead nominating a UDF Prime minister (Valéry Giscard d'Estaing or Simone Veil). President Mitterrand refused. The polls indicated a "pink surge" if new legislative elections were organized. However, he nominated the moderate Socialist Michel Rocard to lead the cabinet and declared that it was unhealthy for democracy if one party held all the power.

In spite of a very good result in the first round, the "Presidential Majority" (composed of the PS and the Left Radicals) obtained only a small parliamentary majority after the second round. The PS and its allies won 276 seats against 271 for the Republican right-wing coalition and 27 Communists. The re-establishment of the majoritarian two-ballot system resulted in the National Front, which had held 35 seats during the previous term, dropping to only one seat.

Some personalities from "civil society" and four UDF politicians participated in the government. They were supported by a minority of their party, which created a new parliamentary group: the Union of the Centre. The executive power relied on the "Presidential Majority" which widened towards the Union of the Centre or the French Communist Party depending on the policy being advocated by the government.

Results

9th Assembly by Parliamentary Group

Notes:

• 2 vacant seats due to the cancellation of elections in the first and second constituencies of the Oise department.
• A Communist group (24 members + 1 caucusing) was created on 15 July 1988 following the lowering of the threshold to form a group from 30 to 20.

v t e Elections and referendums in France
Presidential	1848 1965 1969 1974 1981 1988 1995 2002 2007 2012 2017 2022 2027
Parliamentary	1789 1791 1792 1795 1797 1798 1799 1815 (May) 1815 (Aug) 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1824 1827 1830 1831 1834 1837 1839 1842 1846 1848 1849 1852 1857 1863 1869 1871 1876 1877 1881 1885 1889 1893 1898 1902 1906 1910 1914 1919 1924 1928 1932 1936 1945 1946 (Jun) 1946 (Nov) 1951 1956 1958 1962 1967 1968 1973 1978 1981 1986 1988 1993 1997 2002 2007 2012 2017 2022 2024 Next
Regional	1986 1992 1998 2004 2010 2015 2017 2021 2028
Cantonal then departemental	1790 1791 1792 1795 1797 1798 1799 1801 1803 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1833 1836 1839 1842 1845 1848 1852 1854 1855 1856 1858 1860 1861 1862 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1874 1877 1880 1883 1886 1889 1892 1895 1898 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1945 1949 1951 1955 1958 1961 1964 1967 1970 1973 1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1992 1994 1998 2001 2004 2008 2011 2015 2021 2028
Arrondissement	1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1833 1836 1839 1842 1845 1848 1852 1854 1855 1856 1858 1860 1861 1862 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1874 1877 1878 1880 1883 1886 1889 1892 1895 1898 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937
Municipal	1790 1790–91 1791 1792 1795 1797 1798 1799 1801 1813 1815 1831 1834 1837 1840 1843 1845 1846 1848 1852 1855 1860 1865 1870 1871 (Mar) 1871 (Jul) 1874 1878 1881 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1919 1925 1929 1935 1945 1947 1953 1959 1965 1971 1977 1983 1989 1995 2001 2008 2014 2020 2026
Consular	2014 2021 2026
European	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024 2029
Referendums	1793 1795 1800 1802 1804 1815 1851 1852 1870 1945 1946 (May) 1946 (Oct) 1958 1961 1962 (Apr) 1962 (Oct) 1969 1972 1988 1992 2000 2005
See also: Indirect presidential and Senate elections Elections in French Polynesia New Caledonia Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Wallis and Futuna

• Legislative elections in France
• 1988 elections in France
• June 1988 events in Europe