French legislative election, 1986

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The French legislative election took place on March 16, 1986 to elect the 8th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. Contrary to other legislative elections of the Fifth Republic, the electoral system used was that of Party-list proportional representation.

Since the 1981 election of François Mitterrand, the Presidential Majority was divided. In March 1983, Prime minister Pierre Mauroy renounced the left Common Programme. Wages and prices were frozen. This change of economic policy was justified by the will to stay in the European monetary system. One year later, the Communist ministers refused to remain in Laurent Fabius's cabinet.

In opposition, the two main right-wing parties tried to forget their past quarrel. In this, they won the mid-term elections and the battle about private schools in 1984. However, France recorded the electoral rise of the National Front. Its leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, made nationalist and xenophobic remarks.

The polls indicated a win of RPR/UDF coalition. The former UDF Prime minister Raymond Barre argued that the next parliamentary majority should refuse to govern if President Mitterrand did not resign. The RPR leader Jacques Chirac, noted, however, that impeachment does not exist in the French Constitution. Instead, the next majority would "cohabit" with Mitterrand.

Finally, the "republican right" obtained only two seats of majority. Mitterrand nominated Chirac as prime minister. The first "cohabitation" of the Fifth Republic started. It ended with the 1988 presidential election.

[edit] Results

[discuss] – [edit]
Parties and coalitions		Abbr.	Votes	%	Seats
	Rally for the Republic/ Union for French Democracy Common lists	RPR/ UDF	6 008 612	21.4	73 RPR 74 UDF
	Rally for the Republic (Rassemblement pour la République)	RPR	3 143 224	11.2	76
	Union for French Democracy (Union pour la démocratie française)	UDF	2 330 167	8.3	53
	Miscellaneous Right-wing	DVD	1 083 711	3.9	14
	Total "RPR/UDF union" (Right)		12 565 714	44.8	290
	Socialist Party (Parti socialiste)	PS	8 693 939	31.0	206
	French Communist Party (Parti communiste français)	PCF	2 739 925	9.8	35
	Miscellaneous Left-wing	DVG	357 107	1.3	5
	Movement of Left Radicals (Mouvement des radicaux de gauche)	MRG	107 769	0.4	2
	Total Left ("Presidential Majority" and PCF)		11 898 740	42.5	248
	National Front (Front national)	FN	2 703 442	9.7	35
	Far-Left		430 352	1.5	-
	Ecologists	ECO	340 109	1.2	-
	Miscellaneous		85 811	0.3	-
	Total		28 024 168	100	573
Abstention: 21.5%