French legislative election, June 1946

Legislative election were held in France on June 2, 1946 to elect the second post-war National Assembly which must prepare a new Constitution. The ballot system was the proportional representation.

After the Second World War, three parties dominated the political scene in due to their participation in the Resistance to the German occupation: the French Communist Party (PCF), the SFIO Socialist Party and the MRP Christian-Democratic Party. They formed a provisional government led by General Charles de Gaulle.

For De Gaulle, the "regime of the parties" under the French Third Republic's system of parliamentary government, characterised by its political instability and ever-changing coalitions, was a cause of the 1940 collapse - which is why he advocated a strong presidential government. However, the three main parties considered parliamentary democracy to be inseparable from the ideology of French Republicanism. To them, De Gaulle's project appeared to be a rebirth of Bonapartism. In January 1946, De Gaulle resigned from the cabinet.

The Socialist Felix Gouin succeeded him. A first constitutional draft was approved by the National Assembly. It was supported by the Communists and the Socialists. It concentrated power in a unicameral Assembly and abolished the Senate. The Christian-Democrats campaigned for the "No" with De Gaulle and the opponents to a constitutional change (the classical Right and the Rally of the Republican Lefts dominated by the Radical Party).

The "No" coalition warned the voters against the danger of a "dictatorship" of an Assembly dominated by the Marxists, which could question the existence of private property. In the "Yes" coalition, the SFIO refused the Communist proposition of a common campaign. Finally, the "No"s won by 53% of the votes (French constitutional referendum, May 1946).

Consequently, a new National Assembly was elected in order to elaborate a new constitutional draft. The MRP, which led the "No" coalition, became the largest party with more votes and seats than the PCF. The Communists and the Socialists no longer formed a majority, so the MRP was a necessary partner for the writing of a constitutional text. Its leader Georges Bidault took the lead of the provisional government.

Results

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* [http://www.parties-and-elections.de/france2.html Parties and Elections]