1968 French legislative election

Early legislative elections were held in France on 23 and 30 June 1968, to elect the fourth National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. They were held in the aftermath of the a general strike in May 1968. On 30 May 1968, in a radio speech, President Charles de Gaulle, who had been out of the public eye for three days (he was in Baden-Baden, Germany), announced the dissolution of the National Assembly and called legislative elections to restore order.

1968 French legislative election

23 June and 30 June 1968
All 487 seats to the French National Assembly 244 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	80.0% ( 0.9 pp) (1st round) 77.8% ( 2.2 pp) (2nd round)
Majority party Minority party   Leader Georges Pompidou François Mitterrand Party UDR FGDS Leader's seat Cantal-2nd Nièvre-3rd Last election 243 seats 117 seats Seats won 354* 57 Seat change 111 60 Popular vote 9,667,532 (1st round) 6,762,170 (2nd round) 3,660,250 (1st round) 3,097,338 (2nd round) Percentage 43.65% (1st round) 46.39% (2nd round) 16.53% (1st round) 21.25% (2nd round)   Third party Fourth party   Leader Waldeck Rochet Camille Laurens (NCIP), Jean Lecanuet (CD, above) Party PCF Progress and Modern Democracy Leader's seat Seine-Saint-Denis Seine-Maritime (Lecanuet, as Senator) Last election 73 seats 41 seats (CD) Seats won 34 33 Seat change 39 11 Popular vote 4,434,832 (1st round) 2,935,775 (2nd round) 2,289,849 (1st round) 1,141,305 (2nd round) Percentage 20.02% (1st round) 20.14% (2nd round) 10.34% (1st round) 7.83% (2nd round)
* Including Independent Republicans.
PM before election Georges Pompidou UDR Elected PM Maurice Couve de Murville UDR

While the workers returned to their jobs, Prime Minister Georges Pompidou campaigned for the "defence of the Republic" in the face of the "communist threat" and called for the "silent majority" to make themselves heard. The Left was divided. The Communists reproached the Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left (FGDS) leader François Mitterrand for not having consulted it before he announced his candidacy in the next presidential election, and for the formation of a provisional government led by Pierre Mendès-France. The Far-Left and the Unified Socialist Party protested against the passivity of the left-wing parties. The Gaullist Union for the Defence of the Republic became the first party in the French Republic's history to obtain an absolute parliamentary majority. The FGDS disintegrated.

However, the relation between the two heads of the executive power had deteriorated during the crisis. One month later, Georges Pompidou resigned and was replaced by Maurice Couve de Murville.

Results

Party		First round		Second round		Total seats
		Votes	%	Votes	%
	Union for the Defence of the Republic–Independent Republicans	9,667,532	43.65	6,762,170	46.39	359
	French Communist Party	4,434,832	20.02	2,935,775	20.14	34
	Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left	3,660,250	16.53	3,097,338	21.25	57
	Progress and Modern Democracy	2,289,489	10.34	1,141,305	7.83	28
	Miscellaneous right	917,758	4.14	496,463	3.41	9
	Unified Socialist Party and far-left	873,581	3.94	83,777	0.57	0
	Miscellaneous left	163,482	0.74	60,584	0.42	0
	Technique and Democracy	77,360	0.35			0
	Movement for Reform	33,835	0.15			0
	Far-right	28,736	0.13			0
Total		22,146,855	100.00	14,577,412	100.00	487
Valid votes		22,146,855	98.29	14,577,412	97.22
Invalid/blank votes		385,192	1.71	416,762	2.78
Total votes		22,532,047	100.00	14,994,174	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		28,181,848	79.95	19,266,974	77.82
Source: Quid, IPU

Parliamentary groups in the National Assembly

Party		Seats
	Union for the Defence of the Republic Group	292
	Independent Republicans Group	61
	Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left Group	57
	French Communist Party Group	34
	Progress and Modern Democracy Group	33
	Non-Inscrits	10
Total		487
Source: IPU