1936 French legislative election

* * *

| ← 1932 | 26 April 1936 (first round)
3 May 1936 (second round) | 1945 →

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|

* * *

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
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
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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Political poster (1936) claiming that the Popular Front was under Soviet control.

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 legislative election was the last before women were granted the right to vote in April 1944.[2]

The Popular Front, a broad centre-left electoral alliance composed of the social-democratic French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), the social-liberal Radical-Socialists, the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC), and associated smaller left-wing groups, won power from the conservative coalition that had governed since the 6 February 1934 crisis. Léon Blum became president of the council.

## Results

[edit]

Vote strength for the Popular Front

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.

149

111

128

Party or alliance| Votes| %| Seats
| Popular Front| | French Section of the Workers' International| 1,955,306| 19.86| 149
| French Communist Party| 1,502,404| 15.26| 72
| Radical Socialist Party| 1,422,611| 14.45| 111
| Socialist Republican Union| 748,600| 7.60| 29
| Miscellaneous left| 28
Total| 5,628,921| 57.16| 389
| National Front| | Republican Left| 2,536,294| 25.76| 95
| Republican Union| 1,666,004| 16.92| 128
Total| 4,202,298| 42.67| 223
| Others| 16,047| 0.16| 0
Total| 9,847,266| 100.00| 612
Valid votes| 9,847,266| 99.09|
Invalid/blank votes| 90,692| 0.91|
Total votes| 9,937,958| 100.00|
Registered voters/turnout| 11,768,491| 84.45|
Source: Mackie & Rose,[3] Nohlen & Stöver,[4] Quid

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "French elections a task for voters", The New York Times. 20 April 1936. Page 7.
2. ^ "France marks 70 years of women's voting rights". France 24. 21 April 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2025.
3. ^ Thomas T. Mackie & Richard Rose (1982) The International Almanac of Electoral History, Macmillan, pp128–130
4. ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p692 ISBN 9783832956097

## External links

[edit]

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

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