French legislative election, 1902

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French legislative election, 1902
Flag of France (1794-1958).svg
  1898 27 April and 11 May 1902 1906  

All 589 seats to the Chamber of Deputies
295 seats needed for a majority
Turnout 76.0

 First partySecond partyThird party
  Emile Combes 1913.jpg Meline, Jules, 1915, agence Meurisse, BNF Gallica.jpg Jacques Piou (Agence Meurisse, 1913).jpg
Leader Émile Combes Jules Méline Jacques Piou
Party Bloc des gauches
Progressive Republicans Right-wing coalition
Leader's seatNot presented
(Senator for Charente-Inférieure)
Vosges Haute-Garonne (lost)
Seats won338127124
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 103Decrease2.svg 127Increase2.svg 28
Popular vote4,828,9051,808,7361,766,672
Percentage57.4%21.5%21.0%
SwingIncrease2.svg 17%Decrease2.svg 21.8%Increase2.svg 4.6%

Prime Minister before election

Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau
ARD

Elected Prime Minister

Émile Combes
Radical Party

The 1902 general election was held on 27 April and 11 May 1902.

These elections were a victory for the Bloc des gauches alliance between Socialists, Radicals, and the left wing of the Republicans, over the anti-Dreyfusard right wing of the Republicans, the progressistes. The Bloc des gauches had been brought together to support the "Republican Defense Cabinet" (gouvernement de défense républicaine) formed by Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau following the assault on the newly elected president, Émile Loubet, on the Longchamp Racecourse on 4 June 1899, during the Dreyfus affair.

The Lefts Bloc was a coalition of Republican political forces created during the French Third Republic in 1899 to contest the 1902 legislative elections. It initially supported Emile Combes's cabinet, then Maurice Rouvier's cabinet and finally Maurice Rouvier's cabinet. The Republican Coalition dissolved itself after the International Socialist Congress of Amsterdam of 1904 and the subsequent withdrawal of Socialist ministers from the government. Although the Left won the 1906 legislative election, the Socialists did not repeat their alliances with the Radicals and the Radical-Socialists and other Republican forces.

The Moderates or Moderate Republicans, pejoratively labeled Opportunist Republicans, were a French political group active in the late 19th century during the Third French Republic. The leaders of the group included Jules Ferry, Jules Grévy, Henri Wallon and René Waldeck-Rousseau.

The Progressive Republicans were a parliamentary group in France active during the late 19th century during the French Third Republic.

However, Waldeck-Rousseau's own supporters (the ARD) took few seats in the election compared to the Radicals and Socialists. After the election, President Loubet invited the Radical Émile Combes to form a government, which lasted until January 1905, when the Socialists withdrew from the Bloc des gauches. [1]

Émile Combes French statesman

Émile Justin Louis Combes was a French statesman and freemason who led the Bloc des gauches's cabinet from June 1902 – January 1905.

Results

e    d  Summary of the 27 April and 11 May election results
Chambre des Deputes 1902.svg
Parties and coalitionsVotes%Seats
Radical Left 1,842,38721.9129
Radical-Socialists 1,489,05217.7104
Left Republicans 883,33610.562
Socialists 614,1297.343
Bloc des gauches4,828,90557.4338
Progressives 1,808,73621.5127
Conservatives 1,270,32115.189
Liberals 504,7636.035
Parliamentary right3,583,82042.6251
Total8,412,727100589

Source: Lingane, les élections de 1902

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References

  1. Gildea, R., Children of the Revolution, London, 2008, p. 278-282