French legislative election, 1988

French legislative election, 1988

1986 ← June 5 and June 12, 1988 → 1993

All 577 seats to the French National Assembly 289 seats were needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Michel Rocard Jean-Claude Gaudin Jacques Chirac Party PS UDF RPR Leader's seat Yvelines-7th Bouches-du-Rhône-2nd Corrèze-3rd Last election 206 seats 127 seats 149 seats Seats won 260 129 126 Seat change 54 2 23 Popular vote 8,493,702 (1st round) 9,198,778 (2nd round) 4,519,459 (1st round) 4,299,370 (2nd round) 4,687,047 (1st round) 4,688,493 (2nd round) Percentage 34.77% (1st round) 45.31% (2nd round) 18.50% (1st round) 21.18% (2nd round) 19.19% (1st round) 23.09% (2nd round)   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Georges Marchais Jean-Marie Le Pen Party PCF FN Leader's seat none Last election 35 seats 35 seats Seats won 27 1 Seat change 8 34 Popular vote 2,765,761 (1st round) 695,569 (2nd round) 2,359,528 (1st round) 216,704 (2nd round) Percentage 11.32% (1st round) 3.43% (2nd round) 9.66% (1st round) 1.07% (2nd round)

PM before election Jacques Chirac RPR Elected PM Michel Rocard PS

Jacques Chirac
RPR

Michel Rocard
PS

French legislative elections took place on June 5 and June 12, 1988, to elect the ninth National Assembly of the Fifth Republic, one month after the re-election of François Mitterrand as President of France.

In 1986, the Socialist Party (PS) of President Mitterrand lost the legislative election. For the first time under the Fifth Republic, the President was forced to "cohabit" with a hostile parliamentary majority and cabinet. He chose the RPR leader Jacques Chirac as Prime Minister. The two heads of the executive power were rivals for the 1988 presidential election.

Inspired by the example of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, Chirac campaigned on an aggressively right-wing set of policies (including privatizations, abolition of the solidarity tax on wealth and tightening restrictions on immigration) but he was faced with significant opposition in French society. For his part, Mitterrand presented himself as the protector of national unity. He campaigned for a "united France" and warned against "the appropriation of the state by a clan", targeting Chirac and the RPR. An alliance between the Socialists and the center-right UDF was evoked.

After Mitterrand's re-election, Chirac resigned. Some politicians and commentators suggested not dissolving the National Assembly and instead nominating a UDF Prime minister (Valéry Giscard d'Estaing or Simone Veil). President Mitterrand refused. Indeed, the polls indicated a "pink surge" if new legislative elections were organized. However, he nominated the moderate Socialist Michel Rocard to lead the cabinet and declared that it was unhealthy for democracy if one party held all the power.

...
Wikipedia