1936 French legislative election

1936 French legislative election

← 1932 26 April 1936 (first round) 3 May 1936 (second round) 1945 →
All 612 seats in the Chamber of Deputies 307 seats needed for a majority
Registered	11,768,491
Turnout	84.45%
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Léon Blum Édouard Daladier Louis Marin Party SFIO PRRRS Republican Union Alliance Popular Front Popular Front National Front Leader's seat Narbonne Orange Meurthe-et-Moselle Last election 129 seats 157 seats 76 seats Seats won 149 111 128 Seat change 20 46 52 Popular vote 1,955,306 1,422,611 1,666,004 Percentage 19.86% 14.45% 16.92% Swing 0.65pp 4.73pp 4.04pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Pierre-Étienne Flandin Maurice Thorez Party Republican Left PCF Alliance National Front Popular Front Leader's seat Yonne Seine Last election 72 seats 12 seats Seats won 95 72 Seat change 23 60 Popular vote 2,536,294 1,502,404 Percentage 25.76% 15.26% Swing 12.19pp 6.94pp
Government before election Albert Sarraut II Elected Government Léon Blum I SFIO (Popular Front)

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Legislative elections were held in France on 26 April and 3 May 1936, the last elections before World War II. The number of candidates set a record, with 4,807 running for election to 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 from the broad Republican coalitions that had governed since the 6 February 1934 crisis. Léon Blum became president of the council.

Results

The SFIC, predecessor of the Communist Party, more than tripled its seats total 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.

References

External links

• Map of Deputies elected in 1936 according to their group in the House, including overseas (in french)