1885 French legislative election

Legislative elections were held in France on 4 and 18 October 1885. Following the deaths of Napoléon, Prince Imperial and the Comte de Chambord, the monarchists and Bonapartists formed a conservative electoral alliance under the leadership of the Baron de Mackau. In the first round of the election, the conservatives won 176 seats, whereas the Opportunist Republicans - partly because radical and moderate Republicans ran against each other, underestimating the danger from the right - only won 127. However, in the second round the radical and moderate Republicans agreed that the worse-placed Republican candidates would withdraw, and Republicans won 244 seats to the conservatives' 25, leading to a Republican victory.[1]

1885 French legislative election

← 1881 4–18 October 1885 1889 →

All 584 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
293 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Henri Brisson Armand de Mackau
Party Opportunist Republicans Moderates Monarchists
Seats won 200 83 73

Prime Minister before election

Henri Brisson
Republican Union

Elected Prime Minister

Henri Brisson
Democratic Union

Henri Brisson remained prime minister immediately after the elections, but resigned in December following his defeat in the presidential election to the incumbent, Jules Grévy. Brisson was replaced by Charles de Freycinet.

Results

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PartyVotes%Seats
Opportunist Republicans200
Moderates83
Monarchists73
Bonapartists65
Conservatives63
Radical Socialists60
Independent Radicals40
Total584
Total votes7,929,503
Registered voters/turnout10,278,97977.14
Source: Rois et Presidents

References

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  1. ^ Gildea, R., Children of the Revolution, London, 2008, p. 257