French legislative election, 1978

← 1973

12 March and 19 March 1978

1981 →

All 491 seats to the French National Assembly
246 seats were needed for a majority

	Majority party	Minority party

Leader	Jacques Chirac	Jean Lecanuet
Party	RPR	UDF
Leader's seat	Corrèze-3rd	Seine-Maritime (Senator)
Last election	183 seats (UDR)	119 seats (Reforming Movement, Centre, Democracy and Progress, and Independent Republicans)
Seats won	150	121
Seat change	33	2
Popular vote	6,462,462 (1st round) 6,651,756 (2nd round)	6,128,849 (1st round) 3,489,363 (2nd round)
Percentage	22.62% (1st round) 26.11% (2nd round)	21.45% (1st round) 23.18% (2nd round)

	Third party	Fourth party

Leader	François Mitterrand	Georges Marchais
Party	PS	PCF
Leader's seat	Nièvre-3rd	none
Last election	102 seats	73 seats
Seats won	104	86
Seat change	2	13
Popular vote	6,451,151 (1st round) 7,212,916 (2nd round)	5,870,402 (1st round) 4,744,868 (2nd round)
Percentage	22.58% (1st round) 28.31% (2nd round)	20.55% (1st round) 18.62% (2nd round)

PM before election

Raymond Barre
UDF

Elected PM

Raymond Barre
UDF

The French legislative elections took place on 12 March and 19 March 1978 to elect the sixth National Assembly of the Fifth Republic.

On 2 April 1974 President Georges Pompidou died. The non-Gaullist center-right leader Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was elected to succeed him. Because the Gaullist UDR was the largest party in the pro-Giscard majority in the Assembly, Giscard chose Jacques Chirac to lead the cabinet. This period was one of renovation for Gaullism.

The presidential will to "govern towards the center" and to promote a "modern liberal society" disconcerted the Gaullist party. The Abortion Act and the reduction of the age of majority to 18 years worried a part of the conservative electorate. Furthermore, a personal conflict opposed the two heads of the executive. In August 1976, Chirac resigned because he considered that he "(had) not the means to carry on (his) function of Prime Minister".

Three months later, the UDR was replaced by the Rally for the Republic (Rassemblement pour la République or RPR). This, Chirac's electoral machine, was officially a member of the Presidential Majority, but frequently criticized the liberal and pro-European policy of President Giscard d'Estaing and his new Prime minister Raymond Barre. The executive duo reacted by federating the non-Gaullist center-right in the Union for French Democracy (Union pour la démocratie française or UDF).

While the right-wing majority was divided, and the economic situation deteriorated, the "Union of Left" won the mid-term local elections. According to the polls, it was favourite to win the legislative election. In his Verdun-sur-le-Doubs speech, President Giscard d'Estaing warned the French voters that he could not prevent the enforcement of the left-wing Common programme if the "Union of Left" won. However, Socialists and Communists did not update their Common programme due to increasing tension between the two parties resulting from the PS gaining in electoral success at the PCF's expense.

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Wikipedia