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1981 French presidential election

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FieldValue
countryFrance
typepresidential
previous_election1974 French presidential election
previous_year1974
next_election1988 French presidential election
next_year1988
election_date26 April 1981 (first round)
10 May 1981 (second round)
image1François Mitterrand avril 1981.jpg
candidate1**François Mitterrand**
party1Socialist Party (France)
popular_vote1**15,708,262**
percentage1**51.76%**
image2Valéry Giscard d’Estaing 1978(3).jpg
candidate2Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
party2Union for French Democracy
popular_vote214,642,306
percentage248.24%
map_image{{Switcher
default2
titlePresident
before_electionValéry Giscard d'Estaing
before_partyUnion for French Democracy
after_electionFrançois Mitterrand
after_partySocialist Party (France)
turnout81.09% (first round)
85.85% (second round)

10 May 1981 (second round)

| [[File:Élection présidentielle française de 1981 T1 carte départements & régions.svg|300px]] | First round results by department and region | [[File:Élection présidentielle française de 1981 T2 carte départements & régions.svg|300px]] | Second round results by department and region

85.85% (second round)

Presidential elections were held in France on 26 April 1981, with a second round on 10 May. François Mitterrand defeated incumbent president, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing to become the first Socialist president of the Fifth Republic. It was the first presidential election in French history where an incumbent president actively seeking reelection was denied a second term.

In the first round of voting on 26 April 1981, a political spectrum of ten candidates stood for election, and the leading two candidates – Mitterrand and Giscard d'Estaing – advanced to a second round. Mitterrand and his Socialist Party received 51.76% of the vote, while Giscard and his Union for French Democracy trailed with about 48.24%, a margin of 1,065,956 votes.

The Socialist Party's electoral program was called 110 Propositions for France. Mitterrand served as President of France for the full seven-year term (1981–1988) and won re-election in 1988.

For the 1981 presidential election, National Front Jean-Marie Le Pen declared his intentions to run. However, an increased requirement regarding obtaining signatures of support from elected officials had been introduced for the election, which left Le Pen unable to participate. In France, parties have to secure support from a specific number of elected officials, from a specific number of departments, in order to be eligible to run for election. In 1976, the number of required elected officials was increased fivefold from the 1974 presidential cycle, and the number of departments threefold.

Electoral system

If Giscard's internal political handicaps had effectively "crippled" him in the initial race, the external factors that decided the 1981 election were a deadly blow. Neatly summarized in an article by Hugh Dauncey: "It was Giscard's double misfortune that his presidency should be blighted both by unprecedented economic difficulties, and by a political system which was stubbornly unreceptive to the ouverture and centralist compromise that he required for his reforms to fully succeed". The electoral and party system (political system) in France had, indeed, undergone many critical changes during the previous years. In particular the introduction of the two-round, majority vote requirement played a large role in the election of 1981. The new electoral system divided the various right and left factions within themselves during the first round, but led to right and left polarization during the second round. That forced the right and the left to strategize for both the first and second parts of the election.

In the first round, candidates must present themselves as the better candidate while being careful not to remove all credibility of his/her fellow right or left candidates, as their opponents may have to run again in the next round against the opposing right or left candidate. (It is much the same in US primary elections.)

In the second round, however, total unity must be achieved. That leads to the movement of both groups toward the center, with coalitions between center groups and extremists within the right and left.

Division tactics

The new electoral "rules of the game", was one of the most notable factors that decided the 1981 election. The division within the right between the two main factions, Giscard's Union pour la démocratie française (UDF) and Chirac's neo-Gaullist Rassemblement pour la République (RPR), proved to be the final blow to Giscard (Painton, par. 12). When Chirac lost the "primary", he refused to advise his supporters to back Giscard in the runoff though he stated that he would vote for Giscard. In effect, Chirac refused to endorse Giscard as the sole candidate of the centre-right.

There was also the tactical ingenuity on the part of the Left that brought about Mitterrand's victory. As author Penniman points out, in a shrewd move, the left gained "strength through disunity". The right's disunity between the UDF and RPR factions brought about the downfall of their major candidate. The split between the left's Socialist and Communist Parties, however, allowed the electorate to be more comfortable voting for the Socialists while it gained Communist votes, which were roughly 20% of the electorate.

Results

(incumbent)|party1=Union for French Democracy|votes1=8222432|votes1_2=14642306

Notes

Sources

References

  1. Eder, Richard. (11 May 1981). "Mitterrand Beats Giscard; Socialist Victory Reverses Trend of 23 Years in France". The New York Times.
  2. Goldey, David B.. (1982). "Time for a change: The French elections of 1981: I. The presidency". Electoral Studies.
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1981-elections-in-europe 1981-elections-in-france presidential-elections-in-france françois-mitterrand
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