The 1919 legislative election, the first election held after World War I, was held on 16 and 30 November 1919. It resulted in a decisive victory for the right-wing '' Bloc National''.

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 ...

by department replaced the

two-round system The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resu ...

arrondissements An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements' ...

in use since 1889. However, a provision of the system allowed a party to win all the seats in a certain

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

if it had won over 50% of all votes cast.

Campaign

The formation of electoral lists needed to take into account of three factors: on one hand, the tendency of the opinion to think that the ''

Union sacrée The Sacred Union (french: Union Sacrée, ) was a political truce in France in which the left-wing agreed, during World War I, not to oppose the government or call any strikes. Made in the name of patriotism, it stood in opposition to the pledge mad ...

'' needed to be prolonged in peacetime in order to solve the new problems of France of the post-war period; on the other hand, the refusal 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), then in crisis, to discuss the question of the

Bolshevism Bolshevism (from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined party of social revolution, ...

. To preserve their unity, the Socialists decided in April 1919 not to conclude any agreement ahead of the legislative elections. This decision isolated the radicals, forced to give up a new alliance of the left, and allowed an aggressive campaign of the right and centre directed against the SFIO, accused of Bolshevism; finally, the persistence of partisan divisions within the right. The monarchists of ''

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'' were isolated, but the nationalists, the Catholics, and the "progressives" (who are in fact the moderate republicans from the pre-war period) brought together the moderate republicans of the center-right, gathered in several small organizations, all members of Democratic Alliance, but rejected any possibility of an agreement with the radicals. The radicals were found stuck between the SFIO which hesitated between radicalization and the status quo, and a right more than ever anti-leftist. Following complex negotiations, 324 lists were formed. The Socialists chose homogeneous lists, while the radicals divided between lists allied with the center-right and isolated lists. The lists of the ''Bloc National'' gathered the members of the

Democratic Republican Alliance The Democratic Alliance (french: Alliance démocratique, AD), originally called Democratic Republican Alliance (, ARD), was a French political party created in 1901 by followers of Léon Gambetta such as Raymond Poincaré, who would be presiden ...

, the progressives, the nationalists and the Catholics.

Alexandre Millerand Alexandre Millerand (; – ) was a French politician. He was Prime Minister of France from 20 January to 23 September 1920 and President of France from 23 September 1920 to 11 June 1924. His participation in Waldeck-Rousseau's cabinet at the ...

managed to gather around him a very broad coalition in his stronghold of the second sector of the

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by advocating a reinforcement of the presidential powers.

Results

The results were, except for the SFIO, which made gains, managing to run candidates in all constituencies; rather confusing. Radicals, particularly when they were isolated, tended to decline, and the victory of the Bloc National was without ambiguity: a ''blue wave'' hit the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon Res ...

, called the "blue horizon chamber", because of the great number of ex-World War I servicemen who sat there (44% of the total of the deputies). This victory would remain the largest victory of the right and the centre-right until the 1968 legislative election. 60% of the deputies in this legislature were newly elected.

Popular vote

, - !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left valign=top colspan="2", Alliance !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left valign=top colspan="2", Party !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=Abbr. !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=Votes !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=% , - , style="background-color:blue" rowspan="5", , align=left rowspan="5", National Bloc , style="background-color:#0000C8", , align=left,

Republican Federation The Republican Federation (french: Fédération républicaine, FR) was the largest conservative party during the French Third Republic, gathering together the progressive Orléanists rallied to the Republic. Founded in November 1903, the par ...

(''Fédération républicaine'') , align=FR , align=1,819,691 , align=22.33 , - , style="background-color:#00008B", , align=left, Independents (''Indépendents'') and Conservatives (''Conservateurs'') , align=Ind , align=1,139,794 , align=13.99 , - , style="background-color:#0080FF", , align=left, Democratic Republican Party (''Parti républicain démocratique'') , align=PRD , align=889,177 , align=10.91 , - , style="background-color:#FBEC5D", , align=left,

Independent Radicals The Independent Radicals (french: Radicaux indépendants) were a centrist or conservative-liberal political current during the French Third Republic. It was slightly to the right of the more famous Radical-Socialist Party, and shared much of it ...

(''Radicaux indépendents'') , align=RI , align=504,363 , align=6.19 , - , colspan="3", Total National Bloc , 4,353,025 , 53.42 , - , style="background-color:#E75480", , colspan=3 align=left,

(''Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière'') , align= SFIO , align=1,728,663 , align=21.22 , - , style="background-color:#FFBF00", , colspan=3 align=left, Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party (''Parti républicain, radical et radical-socialiste'') , align=PRRRS , align=1,420,381 , align=17.43 , - , style="background-color:#DE3163", , colspan=3 align=left,

Republican-Socialist Party The Republican-Socialist Party (french: Parti républicain-socialiste, PRS) was a French socialist political party during the French Third Republic founded in 1911 and dissolved in 1934. Founded by non-Marxist socialists who refused to join ...

(''Parti républicain-socialiste'') , align=PRS , align=283,001 , align=3.47 , - , style="background-color:pink", , colspan=3 align=left, Independent Socialists (''Socialistes indépendants'') , align=SI , align=147,053 , align=1.80 , - , style="background-color:gray", , colspan=3 align=left, Veterans (''Anciens combattants'') , align= , align=128,004 , align=1.57 , - , style="background-color:gray", , colspan=3 align=left, Other parties , align=Div , align=87,963 , align=1.08 , - , align=left colspan=6, Total , align=100 , - , colspan=9 align=left, Abstention: 29.78%

Parliamentary Groups

References and notes

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{{DEFAULTSORT:French Legislative Election, 1919

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1919 elections in France November 1919 events