French legislative election, 1981

← 1978

14 June and 21 June 1981

1986 →

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

	Majority party	Minority party

Leader	Pierre Mauroy	Jacques Chirac
Party	PS	RPR
Leader's seat	Nord	Corrèze
Last election	103 seats	148 seats
Seats won	269	85
Seat change	166	63
Popular vote	9,432,362 (1st round) 9,198,332 (2nd round)	5,231,269 (1st round) 4,174,302 (2nd round)
Percentage	37.52% (1st round) 49.25% (2nd round)	20.81% (1st round) 22.35% (2nd round)

	Third party	Fourth party

Leader	Jean-Claude Gaudin	Georges Marchais
Party	UDF	PCF
Leader's seat	Bouches-du-Rhône	none
Last election	121 seats	86 seats
Seats won	62	44
Seat change	59	42
Popular vote	4,827,437 (1st round) 3,489,363 (2nd round)	4,065,540 (1st round) 1,303,587 (2nd round)
Percentage	19.20% (1st round) 18.68% (2nd round)	16.17% (1st round) 6.98% (2nd round)

PM before election

Elected PM

French legislative elections took place on 14 June and 21 June 1981 to elect the seventh National Assembly of the Fifth Republic.

On 10 May 1981 François Mitterrand was elected President of France. He became the first Socialist to win this post under universal suffrage. It was also the first occasion of alternance (between the right and the left) in government during the Fifth Republic.

The new head of state nominated Pierre Mauroy to lead a Socialist cabinet. Then, he dissolved the National Assembly so that he could rely on a parliamentary majority. Indeed, the left had lost the 1978 legislative election and the full term of the National Assembly would have expired in 1983.

Knocked out after its defeat in the recent presidential election, the right campaigned against the concentration of the powers and the possible nomination of Communist ministers. Yet, it suffered from the economic crisis, the will for change amongst the electorate, and the rivalry between the RPR leader Jacques Chirac and the previous UDF President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. The formation of the Union for a New Majority appeared as a false reconciliation and so, had not convinced voters. Furthermore, as the French Communist Party (PCF) had been declining, and was no longer the dominant party of the Left, it did not seem to be a real danger.

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