French legislative elections took place on 4 and 11 March 1973 to elect the fifth

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 rep ...

of the Fifth Republic. In order to end the May 1968 crisis, President Charles de Gaulle dissolved the National Assembly and his party, the Gaullist Party

Union of Democrats for the Republic The Union for the Defence of the Republic (french: Union pour la défense de la République), after 1968 renamed Union of Democrats for the Republic (french: Union des Démocrates pour la République), commonly abbreviated UDR, was a Gaullist p ...

(UDR), obtained the absolute majority of the seats. Nevertheless, the failure of his 1969 referendum caused his resignation. His former Prime minister

Georges Pompidou Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou ( , ; 5 July 19112 April 1974) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1969 until his death in 1974. He previously was Prime Minister of France of President Charles de Gaulle from 1962 to 196 ...

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 ...

. In order to respond to the discontent expressed during May 1968, Jacques Chaban-Delmas, the left-wing Gaullist who led the cabinet, promoted a programme of reforms for the advent of a "New Society", which advocated social dialogue and political liberalisation. This worried the conservative part of the Presidential Majority and Pompidou himself. Furthermore, Chaban-Delmas was accused, by the presidential circle, to want strengthen his powers to the detriment of Pompidou. In 1972, Chaban-Delmas is replaced by

Pierre Messmer Pierre Joseph Auguste Messmer (; 20 March 191629 August 2007) was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Minister of Armies under Charles de Gaulle from 1960 to 1969 – the longest serving since Étienne François, duc de Choiseul under L ...

, a classical and conservative Gaullist. After

Gaston Defferre Gaston Defferre (14 September 1910 – 7 May 1986) was a French Socialist politician. He served as mayor of Marseille for 33 years until his death in 1986. He was minister for overseas territories in Guy Mollet’s socialist government in 1956� ...

's catastrophic result in the 1969 presidential election, the SFIO was replaced by 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), formed by the SFIO's merger with an array of political clubs on the democratic left. Two years later, François Mitterrand's Convention of Republican Institutions joined the PS. He took the party's lead during the

Epinay Congress The Epinay Congress was the third national congress of the French Socialist Party (''Parti socialiste'' or PS), which took place on 11, 12 and 13 June 1971, in the town of Épinay-sur-Seine, in the northern suburbs of Paris. During this congress, n ...

, and proposed to form an alliance with 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). In order to prepare the legislative elections, Communists and Socialists signed the ''

Programme commun The Programme commun (or 'Common Programme') was a reform programme, signed 27 June 1972 by the Socialist Party, the French Communist Party and the centrist Radical Movement of the Left, which provided a great upheaval in the economic, political ...

''. The Radical Party split over the question of the ''Programme commun''. The left-wing minority joined the "Union of Left" and founded the Movement of the Radical-Socialist Left (MGRS). The majority created the

Reforming Movement The Reformist Movement (french: Mouvement réformateur, MR) was a French centrist political alliance created in 1971 by the Radical Party (PR) led by Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, and the Christian-democratic Democratic Centre (CD) headed by ...

with a part of the center-right. This new group claimed its independence towards the "Union of Left" and the Presidential Majority. The ''Programme commun'' was the main issue of the campaign. Its defenders pleaded the necessity to nationalize banks and companies which were in a situation of monopoly. The members of the Presidential Majority denounced a collectivist project and warned against the participation of Communists in the government if the Left won. The Reforming Movement tried to express a third way rejecting the

Marxism Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...

of the Left and the

Euroscepticism Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek refor ...

of the Gaullists, but it was obliged to link with the Right to obtain parliamentary seats. Whilst the left won an increased number of votes and MPs, the Presidential Majority won the election. The Gaullist UDR lost one third of its parliamentary seats due to the growth of the Left and electoral agreements with its allies, the Independent Republicans and Centre, Democracy and Progress. Messmer was confirmed as Prime Minister.

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:#0000C8", , style="text-align:left;" , Union of Republicans for Progress (''Union des républicains de progrès'') *

(''Union des démocrates pour la République'') *Independent Republicans (''Républicains indépendants'') *Centre, Democracy and Progress (''Centre, démocratie et progrès'') , style="text-align:right;" , URP , style="text-align:right;" , 8,242,661 , style="text-align:right;" , 34.68 , style="text-align:right;" , 10,701,135 , style="text-align:right;" , 45.62 , style="text-align:right;" , 272 *183 *55 *34 , - , style="background-color:#7FFFD4", , style="text-align:left;" ,

(''Mouvement réformateur'') , style="text-align:right;" , MR , style="text-align:right;" , 2,979,781 , style="text-align:right;" , 12.54 , style="text-align:right;" , 1,631,978 , style="text-align:right;" , 6.96 , style="text-align:right;" , 30 , - , style="background-color:#4C4CB0", , style="text-align:left;" , Presidential Majority (''Majorité présidentielle'') , style="text-align:right;" , MAJ , style="text-align:right;" , 784,735 , style="text-align:right;" , 3.30 , style="text-align:right;" , 337,399 , style="text-align:right;" , 1.44 , style="text-align:right;" , 12 , - , style="background-color:#4C4CB0", , style="text-align:left;" , Miscellaneous Right , style="text-align:right;" , DVD , style="text-align:right;" , 671,505 , style="text-align:right;" , 2.83 , style="text-align:right;" , 21,053 , style="text-align:right;" , 0.09 , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , - style="background-color:lightblue" , style="text-align:left;" colspan=2, Total Union of the Right and Centre, Right ("Presidential Majority" and MR) , , style="text-align:right;" , 12,678,682 , style="text-align:right;" , 53.34 , style="text-align:right;" , 12,691,565 , style="text-align:right;" , 54.11 , style="text-align:right;" , 314 , - , style="background-color:#FF0000", , style="text-align:left;" ,

(''Parti communiste français'') , style="text-align:right;" , PCF , style="text-align:right;" , 5,085,108 , style="text-align:right;" , 21.39 , style="text-align:right;" , 4,893,876 , style="text-align:right;" , 20.86 , style="text-align:right;" , 73 , - , style="background-color:#E75480", , style="text-align:left;" , French Socialist Party, Socialist Party (''Parti socialiste'') – Movement of the Radical-Socialist Left (''Mouvement de la gauche radicale-socialiste'') , style="text-align:right;" , PS-MRG , style="text-align:right;" , 4,559,241 , style="text-align:right;" , 19.18 , style="text-align:right;" , 5,564,610 , style="text-align:right;" , 23.72 , style="text-align:right;" , 102 , - , style="background-color:#DE3163", , style="text-align:left;" , Unified Socialist Party (France), Unified Socialist Party (''Parti socialiste unifié'') , style="text-align:right;" , PSU , style="text-align:right;" , 778,195 , style="text-align:right;" , 3.27 , style="text-align:right;" , 114,540 , style="text-align:right;" , 0.49 , style="text-align:right;" , 1 , - , style="background-color:#DA7B8B", , style="text-align:left;" , Miscellaneous Left , style="text-align:right;" , DVG , style="text-align:right;" , 668,100 , style="text-align:right;" , 2.81 , style="text-align:right;" , 191,441 , style="text-align:right;" , 0.82 , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , - style="background-color:pink" , style="text-align:left;" colspan=2, Total "Union of Left" , , style="text-align:right;" , 11,090,644 , style="text-align:right;" , 46.66 , style="text-align:right;" , 10,764,467 , style="text-align:right;" , 45.89 , style="text-align:right;" , 176 , - , , style="text-align:left;" , Total , , style="text-align:right;" , 23,769,326 , style="text-align:right;" , 100.00 , style="text-align:right;" , 23,456,032 , style="text-align:right;" , 100.00 , style="text-align:right;" , 490 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=8 , Abstention: 18.76% (1st round); 18.11% (2nd round)

National Assembly by Parliamentary Group

*In July 1974, the Centrist Union group merged with the RDS group to form the ''Reformers, Centrists and Social Democrats Group'' (RCDS). *The Union of Democrats for the Republic, UDR group evolved into the Rally for the Republic, RPR group in 1976. {{French elections Legislative elections in France, 1973 1973 elections in France March 1973 events in Europe