Early legislative elections were held in France on 23 and 30 June 1968, to elect the fourth National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. They were held in the aftermath of the general strike in May 1968. On 30 May 1968, President Charles de Gaulle delivered a radio address after a three-day public absence. During this time, he had gone into temporary exile in Baden-Baden, Germany, to avoid a potential violent overthrow. In his speech, he dissolved the National Assembly and called for legislative elections to restore order.
While the workers returned to their jobs, Prime Minister Georges Pompidou campaigned for the defence of the Republic in the face of what he called the communist threat. He called for the silent majority to make themselves heard. Meanwhile, the leftists missed its opportunity to gain power due to internal division. The Communists reproached François Mitterrand, leader of the Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left (FGDS), for announcing his presidential candidacy without consulting them and for proposing a provisional government under Pierre Mendès-France. Simultaneously, the far-left and the Unified Socialist Party protested against the overall passivity of the mainstream left-wing parties.
As a result of this leftist infighting, the Gaullist Union for the Defence of the Republic won an absolute parliamentary majority, a first in the history of the French Republic. It was the worst electoral performance of the French left in the post-WWII era. This historic defeat caused the FGDS to disintegrate. However, the crisis severely deteriorated the relationship between the two heads of executive power. Just one month after this major electoral triumph, Georges Pompidou resigned from his post and was replaced as Prime Minister by Maurice Couve de Murville.
Results
Parliamentary groups in the National Assembly
References