1958 French legislative election

1958 French legislative election

←  1956 23 and 30 November 1958 1962  →
All 576 seats to the French National Assembly 289 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	77.1% ( 5.7 pp) (1st round)
Majority party Minority party Third party   CNIP Leader Charles de Gaulle none Pierre Pflimlin Party UNR CNIP MRP Leader's seat Bas-Rhin-8th Last election 22 seats 95 seats 71 seats Seats won 189 132 57 Seat change 167 37 14 Popular vote 3,603,958 (1st round) 4,769,052 (2nd round) 4,092,600 (1st round) 4,250,083 (2nd round) 2,387,788 (1st round) 1,365,064 (2nd round) Percentage 17.6% (1st round) 26.4% (2nd round) 19.9% (1st round) 23.6% (2nd round) 11.6% (1st round) 7.5% (2nd round)   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Guy Mollet Félix Gaillard Maurice Thorez Party SFIO PRV PCF Leader's seat Pas-de-Calais-1st Charente-2nd Seine-50th Last election 95 seats 77 seats 150 seats Seats won 40 37 10 Seat change 55 40 140 Popular vote 3,167,354 (1st round) 2,484,417 (2nd round) 2,695,287 (1st round) 1,398,409 (2nd round) 3,882,204 (1st round) 3,741,384 (2nd round) Percentage 15.5% (1st round) 13.8% (2nd round) 12.9% (1st round) 7.7% (2nd round) 18.9% (1st round) 20.7% (2nd round)
Prime Minister before election Charles de Gaulle UNR Elected Prime Minister Michel Debré UNR

Legislative elections took place on 23 and 30 November 1958 to elect the first National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic. ^[1]

Since 1954, the French Fourth Republic had been mired in the Algerian 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. ^[5] A rebel government seized power in Algiers in order to defend "French Algeria". The next day, General Massu demanded the return to power of General Charles de Gaulle. ^[6]

The rebellious generals took control of Corsica threatening to conduct an assault on Paris, involving paratroopers and armoured forces based at Rambouillet. ^[6] In Paris, the political leaders were trying to find a compromise. ^[7] On 1 June 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) and Félix Houphouët-Boigny. ^[8] He obtained the right to develop a new Constitution. ^[9] Only the Communists and some center-left politicians such as Pierre Mendès-France and François Mitterrand, opposed this "coup against the Republic". ^{[7] [10]}

On 28 September the new Constitution was approved in a referendum in the French Union by 82.6% of all voters, and in metropolitan France by 79.3% of voters. The Fifth Republic was born. The two-round system was re-established for the legislative elections. ^[11] The Gaullists created the Union for the New Republic which became the largest parliamentary group. Their opponents were crushed. The small number of left-wing MPs 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]

On 21 December de Gaulle was elected President of France by an electoral college. ^[13] His Justice Minister Michel Debré became Prime Minister. ^[14] The pro-Fifth Republic center-left parties (SFIO and Radical Party) left the presidential majority. ^{[15] [1]} This established the first gaullist centre-right government.

Results (Metropolitan France)}

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 and Republican 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]

Notes

1. Macridis & Brown 1960, pp. 253–266.
2. Macridis & Brown 1960, pp. 26–44.
3. Laponce 1961, pp. 1–2.
4. Laponce 1961, pp. 9–10; Macridis & Brown 1960, pp. 60–61.
5. Macridis & Brown 1960, p. 62.
6. Watson 2003, pp. 123–129; Macridis & Brown 1960, pp. 81–91.
7. Macridis & Brown 1960, pp. 92–97.
8. Laponce 1961, pp. 12–13; Macridis & Brown 1960, p. 154.
9. Macridis & Brown 1960, p. 117.
10. Mitterrand 1964.
11. Macridis & Brown 1960, pp. 210–236, 335–358.
12. Macridis & Brown 1960, pp. 249–266.
13. Macridis & Brown 1960, p. 182, 270.
14. Macridis & Brown 1960, p. 152, 273.
15. Macridis & Brown 1960, pp. 242–246.
16. Macridis & Brown 1960, p. 258, N.B.: Unofficial and partly reconstructed

References

• Macridis, Roy C; Brown, Bernard Edward (1960). Long, Norton E. (ed.). The De Gaulle Republic: Quest For Unity. The Dorsey Series in Political Science (1st ed.). Homewood: The Dorsey Press. LCCN   60-14048. OCLC   408387 . Retrieved 11 November 2014.
• Laponce, J. A. (1961). The government of the Fifth Republic: French Political Parties and the Constitution . Berkeley, Los Angeles; London: University of California; Cambridge University. LCCN   60-14656. OCLC   501634 . Retrieved 11 November 2014– via Internet Archive.
• Watson, William E. (2003). Tricolor and Crescent: France and the Islamic World. Perspectives on the twentieth century (10th ed.). Westport: Praeger. ISBN   0-275-97470-7. ISSN   1538-9626. LCCN   2002030336. OCLC   50322732 . Retrieved 11 November 2014.
• Mitterrand, François (1964). Le Coup d'Etat permanent (in French). Paris: Plon.