French legislative election, 1997

25 May and 1 June 1997

All 577 seats to the French National Assembly 289 seats were needed for a majority

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Lionel Jospin	Alain Juppé	François Léotard
Party	PS	RPR	UDF
Leader's seat	Haute-Garonne-7th	Gironde-2nd	Var-5th
Last election	53 seats	242 seats	207 seats
Seats won	255	139	112
Seat change	202	103	95
Popular vote	5,977,045 (1st round) 9,722,022 (2nd round)	3,983,257 (1st round) 5,714,354 (2nd round)	3,617,440 (1st round) 5,284,203 (2nd round)
Percentage	23.49% (1st round) 38.20% (2nd round)	15.65% (1st round) 22.46% (2nd round)	14.22% (1st round) 20.07% (2nd round)

	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party

Leader	Robert Hue	Dominique Voynet	Jean-Marie Le Pen
Party	PCF	LV	FN
Leader's seat	none	none
Last election	24 seats	0 seats	1 seat
Seats won	35	7	1
Seat change	9	7	0
Popular vote	2,523,405 (1st round) 921,716 (2nd round)	1,738,287 (1st round) 414,871 (2nd round)	3,800,785 (1st round) 1,434,854 (2nd round)
Percentage	9.92% (1st round) 3.62% (2nd round)	2.80% (1st round) 1.63% (2nd round)	14.94% (1st round) 5.64% (2nd round)

Map of results by constituency

PM before election

Alain Juppé
RPR

Elected PM

Lionel Jospin
PS

A French legislative election took place on 25 May and 1 June 1997 to elect the 11th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. It was the consequence of President Jacques Chirac's decision to call the legislative election one year before the deadline.

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, limiting the length of the work week to 35 hours. Prime Minister Juppé's unpopularity may have made the left's win easier.

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 Socialist Party 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 which he had called. The Socialist leader Lionel Jospin became Prime Minister of the third "cohabitation". It finished with the 2002 French presidential election.

Results

Summary of the 25 May and 1 June 1997 French National Assembly elections results
Parties and coalitions			1st round		2nd round		Total seats
Parties and coalitions			Votes	%	Votes	%	Total seats
	Socialist Party	PS	5,977,045	23.49	9,722,022	38.20	255
	French Communist Party	PCF	2,523,405	9.92	921,716	3.62	35
	The Greens		1,738,287	6.83	414,871	1.63	7
	Miscellaneous Left	DVG	713,082	2.80	543,789	2.14	4
	Radical-Socialist Party	PRS	389,782	1.53	558,959	2.20	12
	Citizens' Movement	MDC	263,490	1.04	see DVG	see DVG	7
Total "Plural Left"			11,605,091	45.61	12,161,357	47.79	320
	Rally for the Republic	RPR	3,983,257	15.65	5,714,354	22.46	139
	Union for French Democracy	UDF	3,617,440	14.22	5,284,203	20.07	112
	Miscellaneous Right	DVD	1,073,014	4.22	594,862	2.34	0
	The Independent Right	LDI	606,355	2.38	see DVD	see DVD	2
Total "Presidential Majority" (Right)			9,280,066	36.50	11,593,419	46.02	253
	National Front	FN	3,800,785	14.94	1,434,854	5.64	1
	Far-Left		644,051	2.53	-	-	0
	Miscellaneous		354,249	1.39	?	?	3
	Others Far-Right		26,759	0.11	-	-	0
	Total		25,423,790	100.00	25,189,630	100.00	577
Abstention: 32.09% (1st round); 28.48% (2nd round)

Popular vote (first round)

PS			23.53%
RPR			15.70%
FN			14.94%
UDF			14.21%
PCF			9.94%
The Greens			6.81%
DVD			6.59%
DVG			2.79%
EXG			2.52%
PRS			1.44%
Others			1.49%

11th Assembly by Parliamentary 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

Elections and referendums in France

Presidential	1848 1965 1969 1974 1981 1988 1995 2002 2007 2012 2017

Parliamentary	1791 1792 1795 1798 1815 1816 1817 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

Regional	1986 1992 1998 2004 2010 2015

Departemental	1961 1964 1967 1970 1973 1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1992 1994 1998 2001 2004 2008 2011 2015

Municipal	1959 1965 1971 1977 1983 1989 1995 2001 2008 2014

European	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014

Referendums	1793 1795 1800 1802 1804 1815 1851 1852 1870 1945 1946 (May) 1946 (Oct) 1958 1961 1962 (Jun) 1962 (Oct) 1969 1972 1988 1992 2000 2005

See also: Indirect presidential and Senate elections Elections in French Guiana French Polynesia Guadeloupe Martinique Mayotte New Caledonia Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Wallis and Futuna

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