1902 French legislative election

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27 April and 11 May 1902

1906 →

All 589 seats the Chamber of Deputies
295 seats needed for a majority


Leader	Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau	Jules Méline	Jacques Piou (lost election)
Alliance	Left Bloc Parties Left Republicans Radical-Socialists Independent Radicals Socialists	Progressives	Conservatives Parties Liberal Action Nationalists Reactionaries
Seats won	338	127	124

Prime Minister before election

Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau
ARD

Elected Prime Minister

Émile Combes
Radicals

Legislative elections were held in France on 27 April and 11 May 1902. The result was a victory for the Bloc des gauches alliance between Socialists, Radicals, and the left wing of the Republicans, over the anti-Dreyfusard right wing of the Republicans, the progressistes. The Bloc des gauches had been brought together to support the "Republican Defense Cabinet" (gouvernement de défense républicaine) formed by Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau following the assault on the newly elected president, Émile Loubet, on the Longchamp Racecourse on 4 June 1899, during the Dreyfus affair.

However, Waldeck-Rousseau's own supporters (the ARD) took few seats in the election compared to the Radicals and Socialists. After the election, President Loubet invited the Radical Émile Combes to form a government, which lasted until January 1905, when the Socialists withdrew from the Bloc des gauches.^[1]

Results


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Progressive Republicans	2,501,429	29.73	127
	Left Republicans	2,501,429	29.73	62
	Independent Radicals	1,413,931	16.81	129
	Nationalists	1,194,900	14.20	89
	Reactionaries	1,188,180	14.12	89
	Socialists	531,087	6.31	43
	Revolutionary Socialists	344,445	4.09	43
	Radical-Socialists	853,140	10.14	104
	Popular Liberal Action	385,615	4.58	35
Total		8,412,727	100.00	589

Registered voters/turnout		11,058,702	–
Source: France-Politique, Rois et Presidents