French legislative election, 1885

French legislative election, 1885

← 1881 4–18 October 1885 1889 →
All 584 seats to the Chamber of Deputies
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Armand de Mackau Henri Brisson René Goblet Party Conservative Union Democratic Union Radical Republicans Leader's seat Orne Seine Somme Seats won 201 283 100 Seat change new party new party new party Popular vote 3,471,197 2,624,704 1,986,315 Percentage 42.95% 32.48% 24.58%
Composition of the Chamber of Deputies
Prime Minister before election Jules Ferry Republican Left Elected Prime Minister Henri Brisson Democratic Union

Jules Ferry
Republican Left

Henri Brisson
Democratic Union

The 1885 general election was held on 14 and 18 October 1885.

Following the deaths of Napoléon, Prince Imperial and the Comte de Chambord, the monarchists and Bonapartists formed a Conservative Union under the leadership of the Baron de Mackau. In the first round of the election, the conservatives won 176 seats, whereas the Republicans - partly because radical and moderate Republicans ran against each other, underestimating the danger from the right - only won 127. However, in the second round the radical and moderate Republicans agreed that the worse-placed Republican candidates would withdraw, and Republicans won 244 seats to the conservatives' 25, leading to a Republican victory.

Henri Brisson remained premier immediately after the election, but resigned in December following his defeat in the presidential election to the incumbent, Jules Grévy. Brisson was replaced as premier by Charles de Freycinet.