French legislative election, 1936

French legislative elections to elect the 16th legislature of the French Third Republic were held on 26 April and 3 May 1936. This was the last legislature of the Third Republic and the last election before the Second World War. The number of candidates set a record, with 4,807 people vying for 618 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. In the Seine Department alone, there were 1,402 candidates.^[1]

The Popular Front, composed of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), the Radical-Socialists, the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC), and miscellaneous leftists, won power. Léon Blum became President of the Council.

For the first time, the Radical-Socialists were eclipsed on the left by the SFIO, while still keeping a considerable role in French politics.

Regional results

• The SFIC, predecessor of the Communist Party, doubled its score from 11 SFIC and 9 Union Ouvrière deputies in 1932 to 72 in 1936. The party made gains in industrialized suburbs and working-class areas of major cities. They also progressed in rural central and southwestern France (e.g., Dordogne, Lot-et-Garonne)

• The Radicals lost votes to the SFIO and SFIC, but also to the right.

• The SFIO declined slightly. In working-class suburbs, the party declined, but it gained votes in Brittany, to the dismay of the right.

• Only 174 seats were elected in the first round, 424 were decided in a run-off. The right fared better in the second round.

Results

Popular Vote^[2]

Parliamentary Groups^[3]

References