The French legislative elections took place on 12 and 19 March 1978 to elect the sixth

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 Fifth Republic. On 2 April 1974, President Georges Pompidou died. The non-Gaullist center-right leader

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing (, , ; 2 February 19262 December 2020), also known as Giscard or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981. After serving as Minister of Finance under prime ...

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 Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as Ma ...

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 The Rally for the Republic (french: Rassemblement pour la République ; RPR ), was a Gaullist and conservative political party in France. Originating from the Union of Democrats for the Republic (UDR), it was founded by Jacques Chirac in 1976 a ...

(''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 The Union for French Democracy (french: Union pour la démocratie française, UDF) was a centre to centre-right political party in France. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to c ...

(''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. Contrary to what polls indicated, the Presidential Majority won but it obtained only 2,284 votes more than the "Union of Left". For the first time since 1936, the Socialists obtained more votes than the Communists. Furthermore, the French electorate appeared evenly shared between four equivalent political parties (RPR, UDF, PS, PCF). Raymond Barre was confirmed as Prime Minister. Until the

2007 French legislative election The French legislative elections took place on 10 June and 17 June 2007 to elect the 13th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic, a few weeks after the French presidential election run-off on 6 May. 7,639 candidates stood for 577 seats, inclu ...

, it was the last time that either the right or the left had won back-to-back legislative elections.

Results

, - ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" rowspan=2 colspan=3 width=600 , Parties and coalitions ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" colspan=2 , 1st round ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" colspan=2 , 2nd round ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" rowspan=2, Total seats , - ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Votes ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , % ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Votes ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , % , - , style="background-color:#0000C8", , style="text-align:left;" ,

(''Rassemblement pour la République'') , style="text-align:right;" , RPR , style="text-align:right;" , 6,462,462 , style="text-align:right;" , 22.62 , style="text-align:right;" , 6,651,756 , style="text-align:right;" , 26.11 , style="text-align:right;" , 150 , - , style="background-color:#00CCCC", , style="text-align:left;" ,

(''Union pour la démocratie française'') , style="text-align:right;" , UDF , style="text-align:right;" , 6,128,849 , style="text-align:right;" , 21.45 , style="text-align:right;" , 5,907,603 , style="text-align:right;" , 23.18 , style="text-align:right;" , 121 , - , style="background-color:#4C4CB0", , style="text-align:left;" , Presidential Majority (''Majorité présidentielle'') , style="text-align:right;" , MAJ , style="text-align:right;" , 684,985 , style="text-align:right;" , 2.39 , style="text-align:right;" , 305,763 , style="text-align:right;" , 1.20 , style="text-align:right;" , 16 , - style="background-color:lightblue" , style="text-align:left;" colspan=2, Total "Presidential Majority" (Right) , , style="text-align:right;" , 13,276,296 , style="text-align:right;" , 46.46 , style="text-align:right;" , 12,865,122 , style="text-align:right;" , 50.49 , style="text-align:right;" , 287 , - , style="background-color:#E75480", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

(''Parti socialiste'') , style="text-align:right;" , PS , style="text-align:right;" , 6,451,151 , style="text-align:right;" , 22.58 , style="text-align:right;" , 7,212,916 , style="text-align:right;" , 28.31 , style="text-align:right;" , 104 , - , style="background-color:#FF0000", , style="text-align:left;" ,

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 ...

(''Parti communiste français'') , style="text-align:right;" , PCF , style="text-align:right;" , 5,870,402 , style="text-align:right;" , 20.55 , style="text-align:right;" , 4,744,868 , style="text-align:right;" , 18.62 , style="text-align:right;" , 86 , - , style="background-color:#FFBF00", , style="text-align:left;" , Movement of Left Radicals (''Mouvement des radicaux de gauche'') , style="text-align:right;" , MRG , style="text-align:right;" , 603,932 , style="text-align:right;" , 2.11 , style="text-align:right;" , 595,478 , style="text-align:right;" , 2.36 , style="text-align:right;" , 10 , - style="background-color:pink" , style="text-align:left;" colspan=2, Total "Union of Left" , , style="text-align:right;" , 12,925,485 , style="text-align:right;" , 45.24 , style="text-align:right;" , 12,553,262 , style="text-align:right;" , 49.24 , style="text-align:right;" , 200 , - , style="background-color:gray", , style="text-align:left;" , Miscellaneous including the Unified Socialist Party (''Parti socialiste unifié'') , , style="text-align:right;" , 793,274 , style="text-align:right;" , 2.77 , style="text-align:right;" , 57,418 , style="text-align:right;" , 0.22 , style="text-align:right;" , 1 PSU , - , style="background-color:#77ff77", , style="text-align:left;" , Ecologists , style="text-align:right;" , ECO , style="text-align:right;" , 621,100 , style="text-align:right;" , 2.14 , style="text-align:right;" , - , style="text-align:right;" , - , style="text-align:right;" , - , - , style="background-color:#960018", , style="text-align:left;" , Far-Left , , style="text-align:right;" , 953,088 , style="text-align:right;" , 3.33 , style="text-align:right;" , - , style="text-align:right;" , - , style="text-align:right;" , - , - , , style="text-align:left;" , Total , , style="text-align:right;" , 28,560,243 , style="text-align:right;" , 100 , style="text-align:right;" , 25,475,802 , style="text-align:right;" , 100 , style="text-align:right;" , 488 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=8 , Abstention: 17.22% (1st round); 15.34% (2nd round)

National Assembly by Parliamentary Group

References

External links

Map of Deputies elected in 1978 according to their group in the House, including overseas (in french)
{{French elections

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

1978 elections in France