Early legislative elections took place in France on 23 and 30 June 1968 to elect the fourth French National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. They were held in the aftermath of the events based on the general strike of

May 1968 The following events occurred in May 1968: May 1, 1968 (Wednesday) * CARIFTA, the Caribbean Free Trade Association, was formally created as an agreement between Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago. *RAF Strike ...

. On 30 May 1968, in a radio speech, President Charles de Gaulle, who had been out of the public eye for three days (he was in

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with France, ...

, Germany), announced the dissolution of the National Assembly, and a new legislative election, by way of restoring order. While the workers returned to their jobs, 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 19 ...

campaigned for the "defence of the Republic" in the face of the "communist threat" and called for the "silent majority" to make themselves heard. The Left was divided. The Communists reproached the

Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left The Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left (''Fédération de la gauche démocrate et socialiste'' or FGDS) was a conglomerate of French left-wing non-Communist forces. It was founded to support François Mitterrand's candidature at the ...

(FGDS) leader

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, ...

for not having consulted it before he announced his candidacy in the next presidential election, and for the formation of a provisional government led by

Pierre Mendès-France Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

. The Far-Left and the Unified Socialist Party protested against the passivity of the left-wing parties. 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 wi ...

Union for the Defence of the Republic became the first party in the French Republic's history to obtain an absolute parliamentary majority. The FGDS disintegrated. However, the relation between the two heads of the executive power had deteriorated during the crisis. One month later,

resigned and was replaced by

Maurice Couve de Murville Jacques-Maurice Couve de Murville (; 24 January 1907 – 24 December 1999) was a French diplomat and politician who was Minister of Foreign Affairs (France), Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1958 to 1968 and Prime Minister of France, Prime Min ...

Results

, - , colspan="8", Assemblée National 1968

, - ! 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 for the Defense of the Republic –

Independent Republicans The Independent Republicans (french: Républicains Indépendants, RI) were a liberal-conservative political group in France founded in 1962, which became a political party in 1966 known as the National Federation of the Independent Republicans ...

* Union for the Defense of the Republic (''Union pour la défense de la République'') *

(''Républicains indépendants'') , style="text-align:right;" , UDR-RI , style="text-align:right;" , 9,667,532 , style="text-align:right;" , 43.65 , style="text-align:right;" , 6,762,170 , style="text-align:right;" , 46.39 , style="text-align:right;" , 354 *293 *61 , - , style="background-color:#00CCCC", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Progress and Modern Democracy Progress and Modern Democracy (french: Progrès et démocratie moderne PDM) was a French centrist political group of the National Assembly elected in 1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. ...

(''Progrès et démocratie moderne'') , style="text-align:right;" , PDM , style="text-align:right;" , 2,289,849 , style="text-align:right;" , 10.34 , style="text-align:right;" , 1,141,305 , style="text-align:right;" , 7.83 , style="text-align:right;" , 33 , - , style="background-color:#4C4CB0", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Miscellaneous Right Miscellaneous right (', ''DVD'') in France refers to right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically suppor ...

, style="text-align:right;" , DVD , style="text-align:right;" , 917,758 , style="text-align:right;" , 4.14 , style="text-align:right;" , 496,463 , style="text-align:right;" , 3.41 , style="text-align:right;" , 9 , - style="background-color:lightblue" , style="text-align:left;" colspan=2, Total Right ("Presidential Majority" and PDM) , , style="text-align:right;" , 12,875,139 , style="text-align:right;" , 58.13 , style="text-align:right;" , 8,399,938 , style="text-align:right;" , 57.62 , style="text-align:right;" , 396 , - , style="background-color:#FF0000", , style="text-align:left;" ,

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 ...

(''Parti communiste français'') , style="text-align:right;" , PCF , style="text-align:right;" , 4,434,832 , style="text-align:right;" , 20.02 , style="text-align:right;" , 2,935,775 , style="text-align:right;" , 20.14 , style="text-align:right;" , 34 , - , style="background-color:#E75480", , style="text-align:left;" ,

(''Fédération de la gauche démocrate et socialiste'') , style="text-align:right;" , FGDS , style="text-align:right;" , 3,660,250 , style="text-align:right;" , 16.53 , style="text-align:right;" , 3,097,338 , style="text-align:right;" , 21.25 , style="text-align:right;" , 57 , - , style="background-color:#DE3163", , style="text-align:left;" , Unified Socialist Party (''Parti socialiste unifié'') , style="text-align:right;" , PSU , style="text-align:right;" , 1,037,063 , style="text-align:right;" , 4.68 , style="text-align:right;" , 144,361 , style="text-align:right;" , 0.99 , style="text-align:right;" , - , - style="background-color:pink" , style="text-align:left;" colspan=2, Total Left , , style="text-align:right;" , 9,132,145 , style="text-align:right;" , 41.23 , style="text-align:right;" , 6,177,474 , style="text-align:right;" , 42.38 , style="text-align:right;" , 91 , - , style="background-color:white, , style="text-align:left;" , Technique et démocratie , , style="text-align:right;" , 77,360 , style="text-align:right;" , 0.35 , style="text-align:right;" , - , style="text-align:right;" , - , style="text-align:right;" , - , - , style="background-color:white, , style="text-align:left;" , Mouvement pour la réforme , , style="text-align:right;" , 33,835 , style="text-align:right;" , 0.15 , style="text-align:right;" , - , style="text-align:right;" , - , style="text-align:right;" , - , - , style="background-color:#704214", , style="text-align:left;" , Republican Alliance for the Progress and Liberties (''Alliance républicaine pour le progrès et les libertés'') , style="text-align:right;" , ARPL , style="text-align:right;" , 28,736 , style="text-align:right;" , 0.13 , style="text-align:right;" , - , style="text-align:right;" , - , style="text-align:right;" , - , - , , style="text-align:left;" , Total , , style="text-align:right;" , 22,147,215 , style="text-align:right;" , 100.00 , style="text-align:right;" , 14,577,412 , style="text-align:right;" , 100.00 , style="text-align:right;" , 487 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=8 , Abstention: 20.04% (1st round); 22.17% (2nd round) , -

National Assembly by Parliamentary Group

{{French elections

1968 The year was highlighted by Protests of 1968, protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechos ...

1968 elections in France