French legislative elections took place on 14 June and 21 June 1981 to elect the seventh

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...

of the Fifth Republic. On 10 May 1981 François Mitterrand was elected

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency i ...

. He became the first Socialist to win this post under universal suffrage. It was also the first occasion of ''alternance'' (between the right and the left) in government during the Fifth Republic. The new head of state nominated

Pierre Mauroy Pierre Mauroy (; 5 July 1928 – 7 June 2013) was a French Socialist politician who was Prime Minister of France from 1981 to 1984 under President François Mitterrand. Mauroy also served as Mayor of Lille from 1973 to 2001. At the time of his de ...

to lead a Socialist cabinet. He then dissolved the

so that he could rely on a parliamentary majority. The left had lost the 1978 legislative election and the full term of the National Assembly would have expired in 1983. Knocked out after its defeat in the recent

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

, the right campaigned against the concentration of the powers and the possible nomination of Communist ministers. Yet, it suffered from the economic crisis, the will for change amongst the electorate, and the rivalry between the RPR leader Jacques Chirac and the previous UDF President

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing (, , ; 2 February 19262 December 2020), also known as Giscard or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981. After serving as Minister of Finance under prime ...

. The formation of the ''Union for a New Majority'' appeared as a false reconciliation and so, had not convinced voters. Furthermore, as the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Un ...

(PCF) had been declining, and was no longer the dominant party of the Left, it did not seem to be a real danger. The Communist leaders were very disappointed by the result of their candidate, Georges Marchais, in the presidential election, and very worried by the legislative elections. During the presidential campaign, the PCF had denounced the "turn towards the right" of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

(PS), in vain. It understood that Mitterrand was ready to win his bet, expressed in the 1972 Congress of the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations ...

, to capture 3 of the 5 million PCF voters. Perceiving the great hope of the left-wing voters after Mitterrand's election, Marchais signed a "contract of government" with the First Secretary of the PS

Lionel Jospin Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002. Jospin was First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and the party's candidate for President of France in ...

. The Socialists achieved the biggest electoral success of their history. This result marked the triumph of Mitterrand's strategy. Like the

Gaullist Gaullism (french: link=no, Gaullisme) is a French political stance based on the thought and action of World War II French Resistance leader Charles de Gaulle, who would become the founding President of the Fifth French Republic. De Gaulle with ...

UDR in 1968, the PS obtained an absolute parliamentary majority. The Communist decline noted at the presidential election was confirmed. The PCF obtained its poorest result since 1936 and lost the half of its MPs, most of them to the PS. However, four Communists became members of Pierre Mauroy's government. This was the first PCF governmental participation since 1947. The two right-wing parliamentary parties lost the half of their seats too. This result earned the nickname "the pink wave" from the press.

Results

, - ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" rowspan=2 colspan=3 width=600 , Parties and coalitions ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" colspan=2 , 1st round ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" colspan=2 , 2nd round ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" rowspan=2, Total seats , - ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Votes ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , % ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Votes ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , % , - , style="background-color:#E75480", , style="text-align:left;" ,

(''Parti socialiste'') including the Movement of Left Radicals (''Mouvement des radicaux de gauche'') , style="text-align:right;" , PS , style="text-align:right;" , 9,432,362 , style="text-align:right;" , 37.52 , style="text-align:right;" , 9,198,332 , style="text-align:right;" , 49.25 , style="text-align:right;" , 283 (14 MRG) , - , style="background-color:#FF0000", , style="text-align:left;" ,

(''Parti communiste français'') , style="text-align:right;" , PCF , style="text-align:right;" , 4,065,540 , style="text-align:right;" , 16.17 , style="text-align:right;" , 1,303,587 , style="text-align:right;" , 6.98 , style="text-align:right;" , 44 , - , style="background-color:#DA7B8B", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Miscellaneous Left Miscellaneous left (', ''DVG'') in France refers to left-wing candidates who are not members of any party or a member of party that has no elected seats. They include either small left-wing parties or dissidents expelled from their parties for ru ...

, style="text-align:right;" , DVG , style="text-align:right;" , 183,010 , style="text-align:right;" , 0.73 , style="text-align:right;" , 97,066 , style="text-align:right;" , 0.52 , style="text-align:right;" , 6 , - style="background-color:pink" , style="text-align:left;" colspan=2, Total "Presidential Majority" (Left) , , style="text-align:right;" , 13,680,912 , style="text-align:right;" , 54.42 , style="text-align:right;" , 10,598,985 , style="text-align:right;" , 56.75 , style="text-align:right;" , 333 , - , style="background-color:#0000C8", , style="text-align:left;" , Rally for the Republic (''Rassemblement pour la République'') , style="text-align:right;" , RPR , style="text-align:right;" , 5,231,269 , style="text-align:right;" , 20.81 , style="text-align:right;" , 4,174,302 , style="text-align:right;" , 22.35 , style="text-align:right;" , 85 , - , style="background-color:#00CCCC", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Union for French Democracy The Union for French Democracy (french: Union pour la démocratie française, UDF) was a centre to centre-right political party in France. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to ...

('' union pour la démocratie française'') , style="text-align:right;" , UDF , style="text-align:right;" , 4,827,437 , style="text-align:right;" , 19.20 , style="text-align:right;" , 3,489,363 , style="text-align:right;" , 18.68 , style="text-align:right;" , 62 , - , style="background-color:#4C4CB0", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Miscellaneous Right Miscellaneous right (', ''DVD'') in France refers to right-wing candidates who are not members of any large party. This can include members of small right-wing parties, dissidents expelled from their party for running against their party's candi ...

, style="text-align:right;" , DVD , style="text-align:right;" , 704,788 , style="text-align:right;" , 2.80 , style="text-align:right;" , 408,861 , style="text-align:right;" , 2.19 , style="text-align:right;" , 11 (5 CNIP) , - style="background-color:lightblue" , style="text-align:left;" colspan=2, Total " Union for a New Majority" (Right) , , style="text-align:right;" , 10,763,494 , style="text-align:right;" , 42.81 , style="text-align:right;" , 8,072,526 , style="text-align:right;" , 43.23 , style="text-align:right;" , 158 , - , style="background-color:#C41E3A", , style="text-align:left;" , Far-Left , , style="text-align:right;" , 334,674 , style="text-align:right;" , 1.33 , style="text-align:right;" , 3,517 , style="text-align:right;" , 0.02 , style="text-align:right;" , - , - , style="background-color:#77ff77", , style="text-align:left;" , Ecologists , style="text-align:right;" , ECO , style="text-align:right;" , 271,688 , style="text-align:right;" , 1.08 , style="text-align:right;" , - , style="text-align:right;" , - , style="text-align:right;" , - , - , style="background-color:#0D378A", , style="text-align:left;" , National Front (''Front national'') , style="text-align:right;" , FN , style="text-align:right;" , 90,422 , style="text-align:right;" , 0.36 , style="text-align:right;" , - , style="text-align:right;" , - , style="text-align:right;" , - , - , , style="text-align:left;" , Total , , style="text-align:right;" , 25,141,190 , style="text-align:right;" , 100.00 , style="text-align:right;" , 18,675,028 , style="text-align:right;" , 100.00 , style="text-align:right;" , 491 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=8 , Abstention: 29.65% (1st round); 25.54% (2nd round)

National Assembly by Parliamentary Group

{{DEFAULTSORT:French Legislative Election, 1981

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

1981 elections in France