French legislative election, 1945
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Legislative election were held in France on October 21 1945 to elect the first legislature of the Provisional Government of the French Republic. 79.83% of voters participated. Women and soldiers were allowed to vote. 586 seats were elected through proportional representation.
Symbol of the French Resistance to the German occupation, founder of the Free French Forces, General Charles de Gaulle led a privisional government composed of the three main political forces of the Resistance: the French Communist Party (PCF), the SFIO Socialist Party and the MRP Christian-Democratic Party. It led an economic policy inspired by the programme of the National Council of Resistance: Welfare State, nationalization of banks and manies industrial companies (such Renault). The opposition was composed of the parties which had dominated the pre-war governments of the Third Republic: the Radical Party and the classical Right.
On October 21 1945, the French voters were called to make two choices: the election of their deputies and a referendum in order to authorize the elected National Assembly to prepare a new constitutional text. De Gaulle and the "Three parties alliance called to vote "Yes", whereas the radicals and the Conservatives campaigned for the "No". The "Yes" won by 96% of the votes. This result reflected the support to the provisional government and the will of change.
Logically, the "Three-parties alliance" formed a wide majority in the National Assembly. The Radical Party, which had stood on top of the left in the Third Republic realized a catastrophic result, and the right was equally destroyed (due to its support of Petain). They appeared as being the forces of the past, symbols of the regim which collapsed in 1940.
The French Communist Party, which had already doubled its score in the previous 1936 elections, came out on top with around 26% of votes and 159 seats. While the PCF and SFIO favored a monocameral parliamentary regime, the MRP favors a bicameral legislature. De Gaulle advocated a presidential government. He resigned in January 1946. The PCF and SFIO projects were rejected in a 5 May 1946 referendum. This assembly was dissolved.
Results
|- !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left colspan=2 valign=top|Parties and coalitions !style="background-color:#E9E9E9"
align=right| Abbr. !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right| Votes !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right| %
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right| Seats |- |style="background-color:#FF0000"| |align=left| French Communist Party (Parti communiste français) |align=right| PCF |align=right| 5 024
174 |align=right| 26.23 |align=right| 159 |- |style="background-color:#00CCCC"| |align=left| Popular Republican Movement (Mouvement républicain populaire) |align=right| MRP
|align=right| 4 580 222 |align=right| 23.91 |align=right| 150 |- |style="background-color:#E75480"| |align=left| French Section of the Workers International (Section française de
l'Internationale ouvrière) |align=right| SFIO |align=right| 4 491 152 |align=right| 23.45 |align=right| 146 |- | |align=left|
Total "Three-parties alliance" | |align=right| 14 095 548 |align=right| 73.59 |align=right| 455 |-
|style="background-color:#FFBF00"| |align=left| Radical Party (Parti
radical)/ Democratic and Socialist Union of the
Resistance
(Union démocratique et socialiste de la Résistance) |align=right| PR/UDSR |align=right| 2 018 665 |align=right| 10.54 |align=right| 71 |- |style="background-color:#1E90FF"| |align=left| Moderates (Right) (Modérés) |align=right| |align=right| 3 001 063 |align=right| 15.67 |align=right| 53 |- | |align=left| Miscellaneous | |align=right| 37 440 |align=right| 0.20 |align=right| 7 |- | |align=left| Total | |align=right| 19 657 603 |align=right| 100 |align=right| 586 |- | |align=left| Abstention: 20.17% |}
Sources
French presidential elections  |
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French
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| French
referendums |
| 1793 | 1795 | 1800 | 1802 | 1804 | 1815 | 1851 | 1852 | 1870 | 1945 | 1946 (May) | 1946 (Oct) | 1958 | 1961 | 1962 (Jun) | 1962 (Oct) | 1969 | 1972 | 1988 | 1992 | 2000 | 2005 |
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