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All 576 seats to theFrench National Assembly 289 seats were needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 77.1% ( 5.7pp) (1st round) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Legislative elections were held in France on 23 and 30 November 1958 to elect the firstNational Assembly of theFrench Fifth Republic.[1]
Since 1954, theFrench Fourth Republic had been mired in theAlgerian War.[2] In May 1958,Pierre Pflimlin, a Christian-Democrat, became prime minister.[3] He was known to be in favour of a negotiated settlement with the Algerian nationalists.[4]
On 13 May, riots broke out in Algiers, with the complicity of the army in what is known as theMay 1958 crisis in France.[5] A rebel government seized power inAlgiers in order to defend "French Algeria". The next day, GeneralMassu demanded the return to power of GeneralCharles de Gaulle.[6]
The rebellious generals took control ofCorsica threatening to conduct an assault on Paris, involvingparatroopers and armoured forces based atRambouillet.[6] In Paris, the political leaders were trying to find a compromise.[7] On 1 June, returning from his 12 years out of power since his abrupt resignation as Head of theProvisional Government of the French Republic in 1946, De Gaulle replaced Pflimlin to lead a government of national unity and nominated as Ministers of State (Vice-Prime Ministers) Pierre Pflimlin (Popular Republican Movement, MRP),Guy Mollet (French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO),Louis Jacquinot (National Center of Independents and Peasants, CNIP) andFélix Houphouët-Boigny.[8] He obtained the right to develop a new Constitution.[9] Only the Communists and some center-left politicians such asPierre Mendès-France andFrançois Mitterrand, opposed this "coup against the Republic".[7][10] This opposition came to a head the day De Gaulle took office with a 200,000 strong demonstration taking place in Paris to oppose the unprecedented power given to De Gaulle. However, these oppositions were then met with counter demonstrations with a series of car honking stand off from Parisians occurring atthe Avenue des Champs Elysées that very same night. Further demonstrations between both partisans occurred in other cities includingToulouse andBordeaux.
On 28 September the new constitution was approved in areferendum in theFrench Union by 83% of all voters, and in metropolitan France by 79% of voters. The Fifth Republic was born. Thetwo-round system was re-established for the legislative elections.[11] The Gaullists created theUnion for the New Republic which became the largest parliamentary group. Their opponents received vastly less seats with in particular the PCF losing 137 seats compared to 1956. The small number of left-wing deputies elected may be explained by divisions among left-leaning parties between supporters and opponents to the Fifth Republic: the two-round ballot tends to reward parties which are able to form alliances with each other.[12] As such, De Gaulle's new party formed a coalition with the CNIP to form a new government.
On 21 December de Gaulle was electedPresident of France by anelectoral college.[13] His Justice MinisterMichel Debré became prime minister.[14] The pro-Fifth Republic center-left parties (SFIO andRadical Party) left the presidential majority.[15][1] This established the first Gaullist centre-right government.
| Party | First round | Second round | Total seats | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
| National Centre of Independents and Peasants and Moderates | 4,092,600 | 19.97 | 4,250,083 | 23.60 | 132 | |
| French Communist Party | 3,882,204 | 18.94 | 3,741,384 | 20.78 | 10 | |
| Union for the New Republic and Gaullists | 3,603,958 | 17.58 | 4,769,052 | 26.48 | 189 | |
| French Section of the Workers' International | 3,167,354 | 15.45 | 2,484,417 | 13.80 | 40 | |
| Radical Party, Dissidents andRepublican Centre | 2,695,287 | 13.15 | 1,398,409 | 7.77 | 37 | |
| Popular Republican Movement and Christian Democrats | 2,387,788 | 11.65 | 1,365,064 | 7.58 | 57 | |
| Far-right | 669,518 | 3.27 | 1 | |||
| Total | 20,498,709 | 100.00 | 18,008,409 | 100.00 | 466 | |
| Source: Macridis & Brown[16] | ||||||
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