On 12 June 1994 the fourth direct

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

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 the France. Six lists 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 ...

and the Gaullist Rally for the Republic, 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 ...

, the

Left Radical Party The Radical Party of the Left (french: Parti radical de gauche, PRG) is a social-liberal political party in France. A party in the Radical tradition, since 1972 the PRG was a close ally of the major party of the centre-left in France, the Soc ...

, 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 Un ...

, the National Front and

Philippe de Villiers Philippe Marie Jean Joseph Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon, known as Philippe de Villiers (; born 25 March 1949), is a French entrepreneur, politician and novelist.Main Website Retrieved 4 March 2009. He is the founder of the Puy du Fou them ...

' eurosceptic right-wing dissident UDF list, which formed the '' Majorité pour l'autre Europe''. 53.5% of the French population turned out on election day, actually an improvement on the last election in 1989.

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 *Gree ...

, who were weakened by an

Ecology Generation Ecology Generation (french: Génération écologie) is one of the four green parties in France, along with Europe Ecology – The Greens (), the Independent Ecological Movement (), and Cap Écologie. Founded in 1990 by Brice Lalonde, Environmen ...

list led by

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 ...

(winning 2.01%) and also suffering from internal divisions between the party's left (who wanted an electoral alliance with the Soécialists and the left) and the right (rejecting all alliances), lost all 9 seats won in 1989.

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, ...

's Trotskyst Workers' Struggle (2.27%),

Jean-Pierre Chevènement Jean-Pierre Chevènement (; born 9 March 1939L ...

's left-wing eurosceptic Citizens' Movement (2.54%), the L'Europe commence à Sarajevo List (1.57%) and the agrarian populist

Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Traditions The Rurality Movement (, LMR), formerly Hunting, Fishing, Nature and Traditions (french: Chasse, pêche, nature et traditions; ; CPNT, ) is an agrarianist political party in France that aims to defend the traditional values of rural France. It ...

(3.96%) were among the notable lists which did not pass the 5% threshold. With 14.49%, the Socialists, the party of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

François Mitterrand, whose list was led by

Michel Rocard Michel Rocard (; 23 August 1930 – 2 July 2016) was a French politician and a member of the Socialist Party (PS). He served as Prime Minister under François Mitterrand from 1988 to 1991 during which he created the ''Revenu minimum d'ins ...

suffered its worst result ever in a European election, losing votes mainly to the Radical list led by wealthy businessman and a protégé of Mitterrand,

Bernard Tapie Bernard Roger Tapie (; 26 January 1943 – 3 October 2021) was a French businessman, politician and occasional actor, singer, and TV host. He was Minister of City Affairs in the government of Pierre Bérégovoy. Life and career Tapie was bor ...

. Most analysts agreed that Mitterrand supported Tapie's list behind the scenes, since Rocard was a personal rival of Mitterrand and he wished to destroy Rocard's chances in the 1995 presidential election. In fact, Rocard resigned as First Secretary of the PS shortly thereafter and did not run in 1995 –

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 ...

was the Socialist candidate. The other surprise was

success. Villiers, the

President of the General Council In France, the President of the Departmental Council (French: ''Président du Conseil départemental'') is the locally elected head of the departmental council, the assembly governing a department in France. The position is elected by the depart ...

Vendée Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.

, was a eurosceptic member of the liberal component ( PR) of the pro-European UDF. He won a surprisingly strong 12.34%, and his thirteen MEPs formed the nucleus of the

Europe of Nations The Europe of Nations Group was a Eurosceptic political group with seats in the European Parliament between 1994 and 1996. History The Europe of Nations Group (Coordination Group) was formed on 19 July 1994. It was the first Eurosceptic Group in ...

group. However, his success did not lead him to immediate political successes – he polled barely 4% in the 1995 presidential election.

Results

, style="text-align:center;" colspan="11" , ← 1989 • 1994 • 1999 → , - 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) + Rally for the Republic (RPR) , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Dominique Baudis Dominique Baudis (; 14 April 1947 – 10 April 2014) was the French Defender of Rights (ombudsman). Formerly a journalist, politician and mayor of Toulouse, he had been a member of Liberal Democracy and later of the leading centre-right Union ...

, style="text-align:right;" , 4,985,574 , style="text-align:right;" , 25.58 , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , 28 , style="text-align:right;" , 2 , - , width=5px style="background-color: ", , style="text-align:left;" ,

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

, style="text-align:right;" , 2,824,173 , style="text-align:right;" , 14.49 , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , 15 , style="text-align:right;" , 7 , - , width=5px style="background-color: ", , style="text-align:left;" , Union for French Democracy dissidents (UDF diss.) , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="text-align:right;" , 2,404,105 , style="text-align:right;" , 12.34 , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , 13 , style="text-align:right;" , 6 , - , style="background-color:#FFBF00;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Movement of Radicals of the Left The Radical Party of the Left (french: Parti radical de gauche, PRG) is a social-liberal political party in France. A party in the Radical tradition, since 1972 the PRG was a close ally of the major party of the centre-left in France, the Soc ...

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

, style="text-align:right;" , 2,344,457 , style="text-align:right;" , 12.03 , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , 13 , style="text-align:right;" , 13 , - , style="background-color:#0D378A;" , , 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;" , 2,050,086 , style="text-align:right;" , 10.52 , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , 11 , style="text-align:right;" , 1 , - , style="background-color:#FF0000;" , , 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. ...

(PCF) , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Francis Wurtz , style="text-align:right;" , 1,342,222 , style="text-align:right;" , 6.89 , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , 7 , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , - style="border-top:2px solid gray;" , style="background-color:#BDB76B;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

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

André Goustat André Goustat was a French politician who was the co-founder of CPNT, an agrarianist political party in France. Goustat also served as the mayor of Mauzac-et-Grand-Castang and as the regional councilor of Aquitaine from 1992 to 2004. Biography ...

, style="text-align:right;" , 771,061 , style="text-align:right;" , 3.96 , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , - , width=5px style="background-color: ", , style="text-align:left;" ,

(VERTS) , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Marie Anne Isler-Béguin , style="text-align:right;" , 574,806 , style="text-align:right;" , 2.95 , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;" , 9 , - , width=5px style="background-color: ", , style="text-align:left;" , Citizens' Movement (MDC) & other left-wing parties , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Jean-Pierre Chevènement Jean-Pierre Chevènement (; born 9 March 1939L ...

, style="text-align:right;" , 494.986 , style="text-align:right;" , 2.54 , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;" , , - , width=5px style="background-color: ", , style="text-align:left;" , Workers' Struggle (LO) , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="text-align:right;" , 442,723 , style="text-align:right;" , 2.27 , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;" , , - , width=5px style="background-color: ", , style="text-align:left;" ,

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

, style="text-align:right;" , 392,291 , style="text-align:right;" , 2.01 , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;" , , - , , style="text-align:left;" , Europe Begins in Sarajevo , style="text-align:left;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Léon Schwartzenberg , style="text-align:right;" , 305,633 , style="text-align:right;" , 1.57 , style="text-align:right;" , , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;" , , - , , style="text-align:left;" colspan=3 , Others (parties and candidates that won less than 1% of the ''national'' vote and no seats) , 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 , 19,487,470 , , 94.67 , colspan="4" rowspan="2" , , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , style="text-align:right;" colspan="4" , Blank and invalid votes , 1,097,510 , , 5.33 , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , style="text-align:right;" colspan="4" , Totals , 20,584,980 , , 100.00 , , — , , 87 , , 6 , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan="4" , Electorate (eligible voters) and voter turnout , 39,019,797 , , 52.76 , , 3.96 , colspan="2",

Members elected

UDF – RPR

Hélène Carrère d'Encausse Hélène Carrère d'Encausse (; born Hélène Zourabichvili; 6 July 1929) is a French political historian of Georgian origin, specializing in Russian history. Since 1999, she has served as the Perpetual Secretary of the Académie française, to ...

* Yves Galland * Christian Jacob *

Jean-Pierre Raffarin Jean-Pierre Raffarin (; born 3 August 1948) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 6 May 2002 to 31 May 2005. He resigned after France's rejection of the referendum on the European Union draft constitution. Howeve ...

* Armelle Guinebertiére *

Nicole Fontaine Nicole Fontaine (16 January 1942 – 17 May 2018) was a French politician who served as Member of the European Parliament for the Île-de-France from 1984 until 2002 and from 2004 until 2009. She was a member of the Union for a Popular Movement, ...

* Alain Pompidou * Yves Verwaerde * Marie-Thérèse Hermange * Jean-Louis Bourlanges * Jacques Donnay *

Françoise Grossetête Françoise Grossetête (born 17 May 1946 in Lyon) is a French politician who served as Member of the European Parliament for the South-East of France from 1994 until 2019. She is a member of The Republicans; part of the European People's Party. ...

* Blaise Aldo *

Robert Hersant Robert Hersant (30 January 1920 – 21 April 1996) was a French newspaper magnate. He was a leader in the pro-Nazi youth movement during the Vichy wartime years, but after prison time built a major newspaper empire and engaged in conservative ...

* Anne-Marie Schaffner * Francis Decourrière * Christian Cabrol * Bernard Stasi * Jean-Claude Pasty * André Soulier * Jean-Pierre Bazin *

Pierre Bernard-Reymond Pierre Bernard-Reymond (born 16 January 1944 in Gap, Hautes-Alpes) was a member of the Senate of France, representing the Hautes-Alpes department as a member of the Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement (french: link=no ...

* Raymond Chesa * Georges de Brémond d'Ars * Jean Baggioni * Jean-Pierre Bebear *

Gérard d'Aboville Gérard ( French: ) is a French masculine given name and surname of Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constit ...

PS

Catherine Trautmann Catherine Trautmann (born 15 January 1951 in Strasbourg) is a French politician for the French Socialist Party. She served as Minister of Culture of France in the Lionel Jospin cabinet 1997–2000 and was a Member of the European Parliament 19 ...

* Bernard Kouchner * Danielle Darras * André Laignel * Nicole Pery * Jack Lang *

Frédérique Bredin Frédérique Bredin (born 2 November 1956) is a French politician who used to serve as president of the National Center of Cinematography and the moving image (CNC). Born in Paris, Bredin graduated from the Paris Institute of Political Studies, ...

Pierre Moscovici Pierre Moscovici (, ; born 16 September 1957) is a French politician who served as the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs from 2014 to 2019. He previously served as Minister of Finance from 2012 to 2 ...

Élisabeth Guigou Élisabeth Guigou (; born Élisabeth Vallier; 6 August 1946) is a French politician of the Socialist Party who served as a member of the National Assembly from 2002 until 2017, representing Seine-Saint-Denis' 9th constituency. Early life and ...

Jean-Pierre Cot Jean-Pierre Cot (born 23 October 1937 in Geneva, Switzerland) is a French jurist who has served as a judge at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Biography He is the son of Pierre Cot, also a politician and minister. After stu ...

Pervenche Berès Pervenche Berès (born 10 March 1957 in Paris) is a French politician was a Member of the European Parliament for the Île-de-France until 2019. She is a member of the Socialist Party; part of the Party of European Socialists. On 28 July 2004, Be ...

* François Bernardini * Michèle Lindeperg * Gérard Caudron

UDF dissidents

James Goldsmith Sir James Michael Goldsmith (26 February 1933 – 18 July 1997) was a French-British financier, tycoon''Billionaire: The Life and Times of Sir James Goldsmith'' by Ivan Fallon and politician who was a member of the Goldsmith family. His cont ...

* Charles de Gaulle *

Thierry Jean-Pierre Thierry Jean-Pierre (1955–2005) was a French judge and Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When ...

* Philippe-Armand Martin * Françoise Seillier * Georges Berthu * Hervé Fabre-Aubrespy * Dominique Souchet * Anne Christine Poisson * Frédéric Striby * Edouard Des Places * Marie-France de Rose

PRG

Jean-François Hory Jean-François Hory (15 May 1949 – 28 December 2017) was a French politician. Biography From 1981 to 1986, he was a member of the National Assembly. In 1989, he became a member of the European Parliament (MEP). While serving as an MEP, he w ...

* Catherine Lalumière * Christiane Taubira-Delannon *

Noël Mamère Noël Mamère (born 25 December 1948 in Libourne, Gironde) is a French journalist and politician. He was the mayor of Bègles in Gironde as well as deputy to the French National Assembly for that constituency. He was for several years a member ...

* Michel Dary * André Sainjon * Bernard Castagnède * Odile Leperre-Verrier * Pierre Pradier * Christine Barthet-Mayer * Dominique Saint-Pierre * Antoinette Fouque

FN

Bruno Mégret Bruno Mégret (; born 4 April 1949) is a French former nationalist politician. He was the leader of the Mouvement National Républicain political party, but retired in 2008 from all political action. Youth and studies Born in Paris, Bruno Mégre ...

Bruno Gollnisch Bruno Gollnisch (; born 28 January 1950) is a French academic and politician, a member of the National Front (FN) far-right party. He was a member of the European Parliament and was chairman of the European Parliamentary group ' Identity, Tra ...

Jean-Claude Martinez Jean-Claude Martinez (born 30 July 1945, in Sète, Hérault) is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament for the south-west of France. He was a member and a vice-president of the Front National, and was among the ''Non-Inscrit' ...

* Carl Lang *

Marie-France Stirbois Marie-France Stirbois (born Marie-France Charles on 11 November 1944 in Paris, died 17 April 2006 in Nice of cancer) was a French National Front politician, representing Dreux from 1989 to 1993, and a Member of the European Parliament from 1994 ...

* Bernard Antony *

Yvan Blot Yvan Blot (29 June 1948 – 10 October 2018) was a French conservative politician. A founding member of the GRECE, he was also the co-creator and president of the Club de l'Horloge. Biography Born on 29 June 1948 in Saint-Mandé, Yvan Blot wa ...

* Jean-Marie Le Chevallier * Fernand Le Rachinel *

Jean-Yves Le Gallou Jean-Yves Le Gallou (born 4 October 1948) is a French politician. He served as a member of the European Parliament from 1994 until 1999, representing the National Front. Since 2022, he has been a member of Reconquête. Career Le Gallou began ...

PCF

* Francis Wurtz * Sylviane Ainardi *

Philippe Herzog Philippe is a masculine sometimes feminin given name, cognate to Philip. It may refer to: * Philippe of Belgium (born 1960), King of the Belgians (2013–present) * Philippe (footballer) (born 2000), Brazilian footballer * Prince Philippe, Count ...

* Gisèle Moreau * René Piquet * Mireille Elmalan * Aline PaillerÉlections européennes 1994
/ref>

References

{{French elections

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

1994 elections in France