1936 French legislative election

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1936 French legislative election
Flag of France.svg
  1932 26 April 1936 (first round)
3 May 1936 (second round)
1945  

All 612 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
307 seats needed for a majority
Registered11,768,491
Turnout84.45%
 Majority partyMinority partyThird party
  Leon Blum 1937.jpg Edouard Daladier.jpg Louis Marin.jpg
Leader Léon Blum Édouard Daladier Louis Marin
Party SFIO PRRRS Republican Union
Alliance Popular Front Popular Front National Front
Leader's seat Narbonne Orange Meurthe-et-Moselle
Last election129 seats157 seats76 seats
Seats won149111128
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 20Decrease2.svg 46Increase2.svg 52
Popular vote1,955,3061,422,6111,666,004
Percentage19.86%14.45%16.92%
SwingDecrease2.svg 0.65ppDecrease2.svg 4.73ppIncrease2.svg 4.04pp

 Fourth partyFifth party
  Pierre-Etienne Flandin 1935.jpg Thorez.jpg
Leader Pierre-Étienne Flandin Maurice Thorez
Party Republican Left PCF
AllianceNational Front Popular Front
Leader's seat Yonne Seine
Last election72 seats12 seats
Seats won9572
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 23Increase2.svg 60
Popular vote2,536,2941,502,404
Percentage25.76%15.26%
SwingIncrease2.svg 12.19ppIncrease2.svg 6.94pp

Government before election

Albert Sarraut II

Elected Government

Léon Blum I
SFIO (Popular Front)

Political poster (1936) claiming that the Popular Front was under Soviet control. Ce sont les soviets qui tirent les ficelles du Front populaire.jpeg
Political poster (1936) claiming that the Popular Front was under Soviet control.

Legislative elections were held in France on 26 April and 3 May 1936, the last elections before World War II. The number of candidates set a record, with 4,807 running for election to the Chamber of Deputies. In the Seine Department alone, there were 1,402 candidates. [1]

Contents

The Popular Front, composed of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), the Radical-Socialists, the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC), and miscellaneous leftists, won power from the broad Republican coalitions that had governed since the 6 February 1934 crisis. Léon Blum became president of the council.

Results

Vote strength for the Popular Front FP1936.png
Vote strength for the Popular Front

The SFIC, predecessor of the Communist Party, more than tripled its seats total from 11 SFIC and 9 Union Ouvrière deputies in 1932 to 72 in 1936. The party made gains in industrialized suburbs and working-class areas of major cities. They also progressed in rural central and southwestern France (e.g., Dordogne, Lot-et-Garonne) The Radicals lost votes to the SFIO and SFIC, but also to the right. The SFIO declined slightly. In working-class suburbs, the party declined, but it gained votes in Brittany, to the dismay of the right. Only 174 seats were elected in the first round, 424 were decided in a run-off. The right fared better in the second round.

72
149
29
111
28
95
128
Party or allianceVotes%Seats
Popular Front French Section of the Workers' International 1,955,30619.86149
French Communist Party 1,502,40415.2672
Radical Socialist Party 1,422,61114.45111
Socialist Republican Union 748,6007.6029
Miscellaneous left 28
Total5,628,92157.16389
National Front Republican Left 2,536,29425.7695
Republican Union 1,666,00416.92128
Total4,202,29842.67223
Others16,0470.160
Total9,847,266100.00612
Valid votes9,847,26699.09
Invalid/blank votes90,6920.91
Total votes9,937,958100.00
Registered voters/turnout11,768,49184.45
Source: Mackie & Rose, [2] Nohlen & Stöver, [3] Quid

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References

  1. "French elections a task for voters", The New York Times. 20 April 1936. Page 7.
  2. Thomas T. Mackie & Richard Rose (1982) The International Almanac of Electoral History, Macmillan, pp128–130
  3. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p692 ISBN   9783832956097