French legislative election, 1993

Infobox Election
election_name = French legislative election, 1993
country = France
type = legislative
ongoing = no
previous_election = French legislative election, 1988
previous_year = 1988
next_election = French legislative election, 1997
next_year = 1997
seats_for_election = All 577 seats to the French National Assembly
election_date = March 21 and March 28, 1993

leader1 = Jacques Chirac
party1 = Rally for the Republic
leaders_seat1 = Corrèze-3rd
last_election1 = 126 seats
seats1 = 242
seat_change1 = +116
popular_vote1 = 5,032,496 (1st round)
5,741,629 (2nd round)
percentage1 = 20.08% (1st round)
28.99% (2nd round)

leader2 = Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
party2 = Union for French Democracy
leaders_seat2 = Puy-de-Dome-3rd
last_election2 = 129 seats
seats2 = 207
seat_change2 = +78
popular_vote2 = 4,731,013 (1st round)
5,178,039 (2nd round)
percentage2 = 18.71% (1st round)
26.14% (2nd round)

leader3 = Pierre Bérégovoy
party3 = Socialist Party (France)
leaders_seat3 = Nièvre 1st
last_election3 = 260 seats
seats3 = 53
seat_change3 = -207
popular_vote3 = 4,415,495 (1st round)
6,143,179 (2nd round)
percentage3 = 17.61% (1st round)
31.01% (2nd round)

title = PM
before_election = Pierre Bérégovoy
before_party = Socialist Party (France)
after_election = Edouard Balladur
after_party = Rally for the Republic

French legislative elections took place on March 21 and 28, 1993 to elect the 10th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic.

Since 1988, President François Mitterrand and his Socialist cabinets had relied on a relative parliamentary majority. Without the support of the Communists, Prime minister Michel Rocard tried to widen the "Presidential Majority" towards the center-right. He named four UDF politicians as members of his government. But they didn't succeed in convincing their party and left the cabinet in 1991 with Michel Rocard.

Furthemore, the Socialist Party (PS) was weakened by scandals (illicit financing, contaminated blood...) and a very intense rivalry which pitted François Mitterrand's heirs (Lionel Jospin and Laurent Fabius) against each other. In March 1992, the Socialists were punished at the local elections. Prime Minister Edith Cresson was replaced by Pierre Bérégovoy. The latter promised to struggle against economic recession and corruption, but he was himself suspected to have received a loan from a controversial businessman, Roger-Patrice Pelat. In the first round, the left and notably the PS obtained their worst electoral result since the 1960s. Of the 260 incumbent Socialist deputies, only 53 were re-elected. This result caused a crisis in the PS. Fabius lost his position as First Secretary in favour of Rocard, who claimed that a political "big bang" was needed. Defeated in his Haute-Garonne constituency, Jospin announced his political retirement.

Some traditional PS voters had voted for the Greens in the first round. These ecologists obtained a total of 10.84%, making this the best total score for French Green parties in legislative elections. However, only two ecologists qualified for the runoff, including Dominique Voynet in her constituency in the Doubs "département". Both of these candidates were eventually defeated. Lack of major political allies for these ecologists explained this failure to take any seats.

The RPR/UDF coalition formed the largest parliamentary majority since 1958, taking a total of 485 seats or 84% of the 577 seats. The RPR leader Jacques Chirac demanded President Mitterrand's resignation and refused to be Prime Minister in a new "cohabitation" government. Finally, he suggested the nomination of his former RPR Finance Minister Edouard Balladur at the head of the government. Balladur promised publicly that he would not run against Chirac for the next presidential election. The second "cohabitation" finished with the 1995 presidential election.

Depressed by this historical defeat and by accusations about the loan of Pelat, Pierre Bérégovoy committed suicide on May 1st.

Results

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title=Popular vote
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10^th Assembly by Parliamentary Group