1887 French presidential election

Last updated
1887 French presidential election
Flag of France.svg
  1885
1894  
  Sadi Carnot (14782530655).jpg Felix Gustave Saussier 1899.jpg
Candidate Sadi Carnot Félix Gustave Saussier
Electoral vote616188
Percentage74.49%22.73%

President before election

Jules Grevy

President after election

Sadi Carnot

Presidential elections were held in France on 3 December 1887, to elect the fourth president of the Third French Republic. The elections were triggered by the resignation of President Jules Grevy.

Contents

Background

Caran d'ache ferblanterie 622.jpg

The election was triggered by the resignation of President Grevy, which resulted from the decorations scandal of 1887. This scandal forced Prime Minister Maurice Rouvier into resignation, with no other figure agreeing to be appointed by Grevy as the next Prime Minister. This caused a government crisis which forced Grevy to resign. The French National Assembly met for a joint sitting on December 3 to elect a new president. [1]

Election

Jules Ferry, the former Prime Minister, was initially seen as the front-runner in the race due to his name recognition and experience, but the more-left wing Republicans disliked him. The Radicals within the Assembly, led by Georges Clemenceau, backed an outsider in the form of former Finance Minister Sadi Carnot. [2]

Conservative Monarchists within the assembly rallied behind General Félix Gustave Saussier.

On the first ballot, Carnot came in first with 303 votes (35.69%) while Ferry came in second place with just 212 (24.97%). Both had come short of the majority needed. [3] Seeing he had been outflanked, Ferry withdrew from the race and Carnot was easily elected president on the second ballot with 616 votes (74.49%)

Results

CandidatePartyFirst roundSecond round
Votes%Votes%
Sadi Carnot Union of the Lefts30335.6961674.49
Jules Ferry Democratic Union21224.97111.33
Félix Gustave Saussier  [ fr ]Military14817.4318822.73
Charles de Freycinet Moderate Republicans 768.9550.60
Félix Antoine Appert Moderate Republicans 728.4850.60
Henri Brisson Republican Union263.06
Charles Floquet Radical Left50.5910.12
Anatole de La ForgeRadical Left20.24
Félix Pyat Far-left20.2410.12
Louis Pasteur Independent20.24
Eugène Spuller Moderate Republicans 10.12
Total849100.00827100.00
Valid votes84999.6582798.22
Invalid/blank votes30.35151.78
Total votes852100.00842100.00
Registered voters/turnout852100.00842100.00
Source: MJP [4] Journal officiel [5]

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References

  1. Vincent Duclert, "La République imaginée (1870-1914)"(2014): 326-327.
  2. Frédéric Salmon, "Atlas électoral de la France (1848-2001)"(2001)
  3. Charles Sowerwine, "France since 1870"(2018): 29-30.
  4. "1887, Troisième République, France, Élection président de la République, MJP". Digithèque de matériaux juridiques et politiques (in French). Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  5. Journal officiel de la République française (in French). Paris. 4 December 1887. p. 5350 https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k63491873.{{cite magazine}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)