electionstracker

France 1997 legislative election

What was the result of the 1997 legislative election in France?

Socialist Party won 252 of 577 seats with 23.5% of the vote. 67.9% of registered voters cast a ballot.

  • France
  • Held:
  • Final result
  • ParlGov, read 5 October 2026

Which party won the most seats?

Final results from ParlGov, read : Socialist Party won 252 of 577 seats with 23.5% of the vote; 67.9% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 0.7 points on 1993.

  • Socialist Party 252 +197 seats 23.5% +5.9 points
  • Rally for the Republic 139 −109 seats 15.7% −4.7 points
  • National Rally 1 +1 seat 14.9% +2.5 points
  • Union for French Democracy / Democratic Movement 111 −104 seats 14.2% −4.9 points
  • French Communist Party 39 +15 seats 9.9% +0.7 points
  • The Greens 8 +8 seats 6.8% −0.8 points
  • other right 6 −16 seats 6.6% +1.9 points
  • Citizen and Republican Movement 7 2.8%
  • Radical Party of the Left 13 +7 seats 1.4% +0.5 points
  • Seats won
  • Change on the previous election at the right
  • Share of the vote
  • Share at the previous election
  • Change in points at the right

Changes are against the France 1993 legislative election, party by party.

289 of 577 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 23.5%

    Share of the vote won by Socialist Party

    Socialist Party won 252 of 577 seats. A majority needs 289.

  2. +197 seats

    Seats gained by Socialist Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1993. Rally for the Republic lost 109 seats.

  3. 67.9%

    Voter turnout

    Down 0.7 points on 1993.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Socialist Party252+19723.5+5.95,977,045
Rally for the Republic139−10915.7−4.73,983,257
National Rally1+114.9+2.53,800,785
Union for French Democracy / Democratic Movement111−10414.2−4.93,617,440
French Communist Party39+159.9+0.72,523,405
The Greens8+86.8−0.81,943,774
other right6−166.6+1.91,679,369
Citizen and Republican Movement72.8713,082
other far-left002.5+0.7644,051
Radical Party of the Left13+71.4+0.5366,061
Other parties (seats only)101.4−2.3354,249

± is the change against the France 1993 legislative election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Socialist Party 5,977,045
  • Rally for the Republic 3,983,257
  • National Rally 3,800,785
  • Union for French Democracy / Democratic Movement 3,617,440
  • French Communist Party 2,523,405
  • The Greens 1,943,774
  • other right 1,679,369
  • Citizen and Republican Movement 713,082
  • other far-left 644,051
  • Radical Party of the Left 366,061
  • Other parties (seats only) 354,249

ParlGov lists parties with at least 1 percent of the vote or 2 seats, so the rows do not add up to the valid votes.

For France ParlGov gives the first round's votes and the seats after the second round.

How many people voted?

67.9% of the 39,217,241 registered voters cast a ballot (26,635,942 ballots), down 0.7 points on 1993. 25,334,486 of them were valid votes.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Socialist Party23.5% of votes43.7% of seats
  • Rally for the Republic15.7% of votes24.1% of seats
  • Union for French Democracy / Democratic Movement14.2% of votes19.2% of seats
  • French Communist Party9.9% of votes6.8% of seats
  • Radical Party of the Left1.4% of votes2.3% of seats
  • The Greens6.8% of votes1.4% of seats
  • Citizen and Republican Movement2.8% of votes1.2% of seats
  • other right6.6% of votes1.0% of seats
  • National Rally14.9% of votes0.2% of seats
  • other far-left2.5% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 20.0 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 7.0 by votes and 3.4 by seats; Socialist Party led Rally for the Republic by 7.8 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of