French legislative elections to elect the third

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 r ...

of the Fourth Republic took place on 2 January 1956 using

party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be u ...

. The elections had been scheduled for June 1956; however, they were brought forward by Edgar Faure using a constitutional sanction. The previous legislative elections in 1951 had been won by the Third Force, a coalition of center-left and center-right parties, but it was divided about denominational schools question and, when faced with the colonial problem, the governments had gradually moved towards the right. A part of the

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), the Gaullist party, joined the majority in opposing the leadership of

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 Governm ...

, who then retired. The defeat in the

Battle of Dien Bien Phu The Battle of Dien Bien Phu (french: Bataille de Diên Biên Phu ; vi, Chiến dịch Điện Biên Phủ, ) was a climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War that took place between 13 March and 7 May 1954. It was fought between the Fr ...

in May 1954 caused a political crisis. The Radical

Pierre Mendès-France Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

became leader of the cabinet and ended the

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...

. He also began the process of independence for

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

and

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, but from November 1954 on, France was confronted by the

Algerian War The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...

. In February 1955, Mendès-France was replaced, at the head of the cabinet, by his rival in the Radical Party, Edgar Faure. This one led a more repressive policy in Algeria. The far-right, led by

Pierre Poujade Pierre Poujade (; 1 December 1920 – 27 August 2003) was a French populist politician after whom the Poujadist movement was named. Biography Pierre Poujade was born in Saint-Céré (Le Lot), France, and studied at Collège Saint-Eugène d'Aur ...

, re-appeared at about the same time. He was a critic of "

fiscalism Fiscalism is a term sometimes used to refer the economic theory that the government should rely on fiscal policy as the main instrument of macroeconomic policy. Fiscalism in this sense is contrasted with monetarism, which is associated with re ...

", and leader of a shopkeepers and craftsmen's movement. Many voters seemed tired of the political system's numerous ministerial crises, and he had much support in the rural areas, which were in decline. The anticipated legislative elections took place when Faure was defeated by the National Assembly. Even though 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 ...

re-emerged as the country's most popular party (for the last time in its history), it did not join the government. A coalition was formed behind Mendès-France and advocated a peaceful resolution of the Algerian conflict. This Republican Front was composed of 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 foun ...

(SFIO, socialist party) of

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 Minist ...

, the Radical Party of Pierre Mendès-France, the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance of

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

and the

National Centre of Social Republicans The National Centre of Social Republicans (''Centre national des républicains sociaux'', CNRS), or Social Republicans (''Républicains sociaux'', RS), was a French Gaullist political party founded in 1954. The party succeeded the Rally of the F ...

Jacques Chaban-Delmas Jacques Chaban-Delmas (; 7 March 1915 – 10 November 2000) was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1969 to 1972. He was the Mayor of Bordeaux from 1947 to 1995 and a deputy for the Gironde '' ...

. Faure was excluded from the Radical Party – in response he transformed 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 ...

(which had been abandoned by those groups which had now joined the Republican Front) into a party that he led, and he campaigned with the center-right parties. The French Communist Party remained the largest party and the Republican Front obtained a relative majority in order to end the Algerian War. The Poujadists won 52 seats versus predictions of six to eight, and the press stated that they held the balance of power. Media reception was mixed, with the result welcomed by communist supporters and condemned by papers such as ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'', ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...

'', and ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...

''. The coalition cabinet was led by the Socialist leader

. At the beginning he was also supported by the Communists, but pressure from the '' pieds-noir'' in Algeria incited him into leading a very repressive policy against the Algerian nationalists. This policy was criticized by Vice-Prime Minister Mendès-France and other members of the cabinet, who resigned, thus splitting the Republican Front. Mollet and his successors floundered in the conflict until May 1958.

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:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , +/- % , - , style="background-color:#1E90FF", , style="text-align:left;" , National Centre of Independents and Peasants (''Centre national des indépendants et paysans'') , style="text-align:right;" , CNIP , style="text-align:right;" , 3,259,782 , style="text-align:right;" , 15.30 , style="text-align:right;" , 95 , style="text-align:right;" , +1.66 , - , style="background-color:#00CCCC", , style="text-align:left;" , Popular Republican Movement (''Mouvement républicain populaire'') , style="text-align:right;" , MRP , style="text-align:right;" , 2,366,321 , style="text-align:right;" , 11.11 , style="text-align:right;" , 83 , style="text-align:right;" , -1.49 , - , style="background-color:#FBEC5D", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Rally of Left Republicans 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 th ...

(''Rassemblement des gauches républicaines'') , style="text-align:right;" , RGR , style="text-align:right;" , 838,321 , style="text-align:right;" , 3.94 , style="text-align:right;" , 14 , style="text-align:right;" , -6.23 , - , style="background-color:#C9A0DC", , style="text-align:left;" ,

outside Republican Front(''Centre national des républicains sociaux'') , style="text-align:right;" , CNRS , style="text-align:right;" , 585,764 , style="text-align:right;" , 2.75 , style="text-align:right;" , 22 , style="text-align:right;" , -17.98 , - , , style="text-align:left;" , Total "Centre-Right" , , style="text-align:right;" , 7,050,188 , style="text-align:right;" , 33.10 , style="text-align:right;" , 214 , - , style="background-color:#E75480", , style="text-align:left;" ,

(''Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière'') , style="text-align:right;" , SFIO , style="text-align:right;" , 3,247,431 , style="text-align:right;" , 15.25 , style="text-align:right;" , 95 , style="text-align:right;" , -0.14 , - , style="background-color:#FFBF00", , style="text-align:left;" , Radical Party (''Parti radical'') and Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (''Union démocratique et socialiste de la Résistance'') , style="text-align:right;" , PR/UDSR , style="text-align:right;" , 2,389,163 , style="text-align:right;" , 11.22 , style="text-align:right;" , 77 , style="text-align:right;" , +1.05 , - , style="background-color:#C9A0DC", , style="text-align:left;" ,

(''Centre national des républicains sociaux'') , style="text-align:right;" , CNRS , style="text-align:right;" , 256,587 , style="text-align:right;" , 1.20 , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;" , -20.73 , - , , style="text-align:left;" , Total " Republican Front" , , style="text-align:right;" , 5,893,181 , style="text-align:right;" , 27.67 , style="text-align:right;" , 172 , - , style="background-color:#FF0000", , style="text-align:left;" ,

(''Parti communiste français'') , style="text-align:right;" , PCF , style="text-align:right;" , 5,514,403 , style="text-align:right;" , 25.89 , style="text-align:right;" , 150 , style="text-align:right;" , -0.38 , - , style="background-color:#704214", , style="text-align:left;" , Union and French Fraternity (''Union et fraternité française'') , style="text-align:right;" , UFF , style="text-align:right;" , 2,744,562 , style="text-align:right;" , 12.88 , style="text-align:right;" , 52 , style="text-align:right;" , +12.88 , - , , style="text-align:left;" , Miscellaneous , , style="text-align:right;" , 98,600 , style="text-align:right;" , 0.46 , style="text-align:right;" , 7 , - , , style="text-align:left;" , Total , , style="text-align:right;" , 21,300,934 , style="text-align:right;" , 100 , style="text-align:right;" , 595 , - , , style="text-align:left;" , Abstention: 17.2%

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:French Legislative Election, 1956

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...

1956 elections in France