1914 French legislative election

Legislative elections were held in France on 26 April and 10 May 1914, three months before the outbreak of World War I. The Radical Party, a radical and increasingly centre-right party, emerged as the largest party, though, with the outbreak of the First World War, many in the Chamber, ranging from Catholics to socialists, united to form the Union sacrée.

1914 French legislative election

← 191026 April and 10 May 19141919 →

All 592 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
297 seats needed for a majority
 Majority partyMinority party
 
LeaderJoseph CaillauxJean Jaurès
PartyPRVSFIO
Seats won140103
Seat changeDecrease 8Increase 28
Popular vote1,530,1881,413,044
Percentage18.15%16.76%
SwingDecrease 2.30ppIncrease 3.61pp

 Third partyFourth party
 
PartyURRI
Seats won9696
Seat changeDecrease 20Increase 36
Popular vote1,588,0751,399,830
Percentage18.84%16.60%
SwingDecrease 1.41ppDecrease 5.16pp

Prime Minister before election

Gaston Doumergue
RI

Elected Prime Minister

René Viviani
PRS

The elections saw 192 new members elected.[1]

Alexandre Ribot, a member of the Republican Democratic Party, negotiated a government on 9 June 1914, but its perceived overly-centrist leanings lead much of the left-wing of the Radical Party to rebel against it, bringing it down on the day it was presented to the chamber. Ribot was quickly succeeded by René Viviani of the Republican-Socialist Party, who formed a centre-left government on 13 June, only four days later.

Results edit

PartyVotes%Seats
Republican Union1,588,07518.8496
Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party1,530,18818.15140
French Section of the Workers' International1,413,04416.76103
Independent Radicals1,399,83016.6096
ALPPN–Reactionaries1,297,72215.3973
Republican Left819,1849.7257
Republican-Socialist Party326,9273.8827
Others56,0860.670
Total8,431,056100.00592
Valid votes8,431,05697.62
Invalid/blank votes205,5112.38
Total votes8,636,567100.00
Registered voters/turnout11,185,07877.22
Source: Mackie & Rose,[2] Nohlen & Stöver[3]

References edit

  1. ^ Le Matin 12 May 1914
  2. ^ Thomas T. Mackie & Richard Rose (1991) The International Almanac of Electoral History, Macmillan, pp128–130
  3. ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p691 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7

Sources edit

External links edit