French legislative election, 1958

French legislative election, 1958

1956 ← 23 and 30 November 1958 → 1962

All 576 seats to the French National Assembly 289 seats were needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party Third party   CNIP Leader Charles de Gaulle none Pierre Pflimlin Party UNR CNIP MRP Leader's seat none none Bas-Rhin-8th Last election 22 seats 95 seats 71 seats Seats won 189 132 57 Seat change 173 37 26 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 PR PCF Leader's seat Pas-de-Calais-1st Charente Seine 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)

PM before election Charles de Gaulle UNR Elected PM Michel Debré UNR

Charles de Gaulle
UNR

Michel Debré
UNR

The French legislative elections took place on 23 and 30 November 1958 to elect the first National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic.

Since 1954, the French Fourth Republic had been mired in the Algerian War. In May 1958, Pierre Pflimlin, a Christian-Democrat, became Prime Minister. He was known to be in favour of a negotiated settlement with the Algerian nationalists. On 13 May riots broke out in Algiers, with the complicity of the army. 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.

The rebellious generals took control of Corsica threatening to conduct an assault on Paris, involving paratroopers and armoured forces based at Rambouillet. In Paris, the political leaders were trying to find a compromise. 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. He obtained the right to develop a new Constitution. Only the Communists and some center-left politicians such as Pierre Mendès-France and François Mitterrand, opposed this "coup against the Republic".

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