Legislative elections were held in France on 17 June 1951 to elect the second

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

of the Fourth Republic. After the Second World War, the three parties which took a major part in the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

to the German occupation dominated the political scene and government: the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Unit ...

(PCF), the

French Section of the Workers' International The French Section of the Workers' International (french: Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière, SFIO) was a political party in France that was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the modern-day Socialist Party. The SFIO was found ...

(SFIO, socialist party) and the Christian democratic

Popular Republican Movement The Popular Republican Movement (french: Mouvement Républicain Populaire, MRP) was a Christian-democratic political party in France during the Fourth Republic. Its base was the Catholic vote and its leaders included Georges Bidault, Robert Sc ...

(MRP). The forces associated with the Third Republic and the 1940 disaster (the Radical Party and the classical Right) were considered as archaic and were the losers of the post-war elections. Nevertheless, after the proclamation of the Fourth Republic, the 1947 strikes and the beginning of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, the

Three-parties Tripartisme () was the mode of government in France from 1944 to 1947, when the country was ruled by a three-party alliance of communists, socialists and Christian democrats, represented by the French Communist Party (PCF), the French Section of th ...

alliance split. In spring 1947, the Communist ministers were dismissed. At the same time,

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

, symbol of the Resistance, founded his

Rally of the French People The Rally of the French People (french: Rassemblement du Peuple Français, RPF) was a French political party, led by Charles de Gaulle. Foundation The RPF was founded by Charles de Gaulle in Strasbourg on 14 April 1947, one year after his resign ...

(RPF) which campaigned for constitutional reform and criticized the "parties' regime" as a rebirth of the defunct Third Republic. The Socialists and the Christian-Democrats allied with the

Rally of the Republican Lefts The Rally of Republican Lefts (french: Rassemblement des gauches républicaines, RGR) was an electoral alliance during the French Fourth Republic composed of the Radical Party, the Independent Radicals, the Democratic and Socialist Union of the ...

(composed of the Radicals and the

Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance The Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (french: Union démocratique et socialiste de la Résistance or UDSR) was a French political party founded after the liberation of France from German occupation and mainly active during the Fo ...

, UDSR) and right-wing groupings to form the Third Force. This coalition defended the regime against the opposition of the Communists on the one hand, and the Gaullists on the other. But this diverse alliance did not lead to a stable executive power. Indeed, its components advocated opposing policies on the economy, the finances of the state, secularism (''

laïcité (; 'secularism') is the constitutional principle of secularism in France. Article 1 of the French Constitution is commonly interpreted as discouraging religious involvement in government affairs, especially religious influence in the determin ...

'') and denominational schools. This discontent was beneficial to the Communists and the Gaullists. In March 1951,

Henri Queuille Henri Queuille (; 31 March 1884 – 15 June 1970) was a French Radical politician prominent in the Third and Fourth Republics. After World War II, he served three times as Prime Minister. Governments First ministry (11 September 1948 – 28 O ...

( Radical Party), became head of the cabinet. His Vice-Prime Ministers were

Georges Bidault Georges-Augustin Bidault (; 5 October 189927 January 1983) was a French politician. During World War II, he was active in the French Resistance. After the war, he served as foreign minister and prime minister on several occasions. He joined the ...

(MRP),

Guy Mollet Guy Alcide Mollet (; 31 December 1905 – 3 October 1975) was a French politician. He led the socialist French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) from 1946 to 1969 and was the French Prime Minister from 1956 to 1957. As Prime Minister ...

(SFIO) and

René Pleven René Pleven (; 15 April 1901 – 13 January 1993) was a notable French politician of the Fourth Republic. A member of the Free French, he helped found the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (UDSR), a political party that was meant ...

(UDSR). In order to limit the number of seats won by the Communists and the Gaullists, an electoral reform was passed. The

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

system was conserved but if an alliance of parties obtained more of 50% of votes in a given constituency, it won all the seats. The promoters of the electoral reform knew the Communists and the Gaullists were so different from allie contrary to the parties of the Third Force. They hoped the alliance of the pro-government parties would reach the 50% threshold in a maximum of constituencies, whereas the PCF and the RPF would be eliminated of representation. Whilst the PCF and the RPF were the two largest parties in terms of the popular vote, the Third Force remained the parliamentary majority. Due to the ballot system, the Communist Party, which won more votes than any other party, was only third in terms of the number of seats won. In the winning coalition, the SFIO and the MRP lost support whereas the Radicals and the classical Right made gains. However, due to continuing internal divisions (about the denominational schools, the budget and the colonial question) the problem of the stability of the executive was not resolved. In August 1951, René Pleven replaced Henri Queuille as Prime Minister and the Socialists left the cabinet.

Results

, - ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" colspan=2 , Parties and coalitions ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Abbr. ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Votes ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , % ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Seats , - , style="background-color:#E75480", , style="text-align:left;" ,

(''Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière'') , style="text-align:right;" , SFIO , style="text-align:right;" , 2,894,001 , style="text-align:right;" , 15.39 , style="text-align:right;" , 107 , - , style="background-color:#1E90FF", , style="text-align:left;" ,

National Centre of Independents and Peasants The National Centre of Independents and Peasants (''Centre National des Indépendants et Paysans'', CNIP) is a right-wing agrarian political party in France, founded in 1951 by the merger of the National Centre of Independents (the heir of the ...

(''Centre national des indépendants et paysans'') , style="text-align:right;" , CNIP , style="text-align:right;" , 2,563,782 , style="text-align:right;" , 13.64 , style="text-align:right;" , 96 , - , style="background-color:#00CCCC", , style="text-align:left;" ,

(''Mouvement républicain populaire'') , style="text-align:right;" , MRP , style="text-align:right;" , 2,369,778 , style="text-align:right;" , 12.60 , style="text-align:right;" , 95 , - , style="background-color:#FBEC5D", , style="text-align:left;" ,

(''Rassemblement des gauches républicaines'') , style="text-align:right;" , RGR , style="text-align:right;" , 1,913,003 , style="text-align:right;" , 10.17 , style="text-align:right;" , 93 , - , colspan=3 style="text-align:left;" , Total "Third Force" , style="text-align:right;" , 9,740,564 , style="text-align:right;" , 51.80 , style="text-align:right;" , 388 , - , style="background-color:#FF0000", , style="text-align:left;" ,

(''Parti communiste français'') , style="text-align:right;" , PCF , style="text-align:right;" , 4,939,380 , style="text-align:right;" , 26.27 , style="text-align:right;" , 103 , - , style="background-color:#0000C8", , style="text-align:left;" ,

(''Rassemblement du peuple français'') , style="text-align:right;" , RPF , style="text-align:right;" , 4,122,696 , style="text-align:right;" , 21.93 , style="text-align:right;" , 121 , - , , style="text-align:left;" , Total , , style="text-align:right;" , 18,802,640 , style="text-align:right;" , 100 , style="text-align:right;" , 625 , - , colspan=7 style="text-align:left;" , Abstention: 19.8%

Parliamentary Groups

Sources

Parties and ElectionsElection-Politique

Results

Parliamentary Groups

Sources

See also