In 1984 the second direct

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

were held in France. Four parties were able to win seats: an alliance of the centre right

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 ...

and the Gaullist

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 ...

, the

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 t ...

and 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 ...

, and the

Front National The National Rally (french: Rassemblement National, ; RN), until 2018 known as the National Front (french: link=no, Front National, ; FN), is a far-rightAbridged list of reliable sources that refer to National Rally as far-right: Academic: ...

. 56.7% of the French population turned out on election day. The result was the first time the far-right

obtained important results – this time 10.8% and close to the declining

. Jonah Birch argues in ''Jacobin'' that the FN's rise in popularity was caused by the Socialists abandoning their

Keynesian Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output an ...

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

the previous year and instead pursuing policies of austerity.

Results

, style="text-align:center;" colspan="11" , ← 1979 • 1984 • 1989 → , - style="text-align:right;" ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9; width:400; text-align:left;" colspan="2" , National party ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;" , European party ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;" , Main candidate ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9; width:50;" , Votes ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9; width:50;" , % ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9; width:50;" , +/− ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9; width:50;" , Seats ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9; width:50;" , +/− , - , width=5px style="background-color: ", , style="text-align:left;" ,

(UDF) +

(RPR) , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Simone Veil Simone Veil (; ; 13 July 1927 – 30 June 2017) was a French magistrate and politician who served as Health Minister in several governments and was President of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1982, the first woman to hold that office. ...

, style="text-align:right;" , 8,683,596 , style="text-align:right;" , 43.03 , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , 41 , style="text-align:right;" , , - , style="background-color: ", , style="text-align:left;" ,

(PS) , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Lionel Jospin Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002. Jospin was First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and the party's candidate for President of France in ...

, style="text-align:right;" , 4,188,875 , style="text-align:right;" , 20.76 , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , 20 , style="text-align:right;" , , - , style="background-color: ", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

(PCF) , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Georges Marchais Georges René Louis Marchais (7 June 1920 – 16 November 1997) was the head of the French Communist Party (PCF) from 1972 to 1994, and a candidate in the French presidential elections of 1981. Early life Born into a Roman Catholic family, he bec ...

, style="text-align:right;" , 2,261,312 , style="text-align:right;" , 11.21 , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , 10 , style="text-align:right;" , , - , style="background-color: ", , style="text-align:left;" , National Front (FN) , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Jean-Marie Le Pen Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (, born 20 June 1928) is a French far-right politician who served as President of the National Front from 1972 to 2011. He also served as Honorary President of the National Front from 2011 to 2015. Le Pen graduated fro ...

, style="text-align:right;" , 2,210,334 , style="text-align:right;" , 10.95 , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , 10 , style="text-align:right;" , , - , style="background-color: ", , style="text-align:left;" ,

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties * Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' * Greens of Andorra * Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina * Greens of Burkina * Greens (Greece) * Greens of Montenegro *Greens of Serbia *G ...

(VERTS) , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Didier Anger , style="text-align:right;" , 680,080 , style="text-align:right;" , 3.37 , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;" , , - , , style="text-align:left;" , UCR + Ecologists + MRG , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" , François Doubin

Brice Lalonde Brice Lalonde (; born 10 February 1946) is a former green party leader in France, who ran for President of France in the Presidential elections, 1981. In 1988 he was named Minister of the Environment, and in 1990 founded the green Ecology Gener ...

Olivier Stirn Olivier is the French form of the given name Oliver (given name), Oliver. It may refer to: * Olivier (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Olivier (surname), a list of people * Château Olivier, a Bordeaux winery *Olivier, Loui ...

, style="text-align:right;" , 670,474 , style="text-align:right;" , 3.32 , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;" , , - , style="background-color: ", , style="text-align:left;" , Workers' Struggle (LO) , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Arlette Laguiller Arlette Yvonne Laguiller (born 18 March 1940) is a French politician. From 1973 to 2008, she was the spokeswoman and the best-known leader and presidential nominee of Lutte Ouvrière (LO), Trotskyist political party. Career Born at Les Lilas, ...

, style="text-align:right;" , 417,702 , style="text-align:right;" , 2.07 , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;" , , - , style="background-color: ", , style="text-align:left;" , Union for French Democracy dissidents (UDF diss.) , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Francine Gomez , style="text-align:right;" , 382,404 , style="text-align:right;" , 1.89 , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;" , , - , , style="text-align:left;" colspan="3", Others , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , — , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;" , — , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , style="text-align:right;" colspan="4" , Valid votes , 20,180,934 , 96.47 , colspan="4" rowspan="2" , , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , style="text-align:right;" colspan="4" , Blank and invalid votes , 737,838 , 3.53 , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , style="text-align:right;" colspan="4" , Totals , 20,918,772 , 100 , — , 81 , 0 , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan="4" , Electorate (eligible voters) and voter turnout , 36,880,688 , 56.72 , , colspan="2" , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=9 , Source
France-politique.fr
/small>

References

{{French elections

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

1984 1984 elections in France