Actual composition of the French National Assembly.

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Beyond the awful "DVG-DVD" abbreviations, the ACTUAL composition is:

UMP 305
PS 191
Nouveau Centre-PSLE 19
PCF 17
Parti Radical (right) 12
Parti Radical (left) 6
Les Verts 4
MoDem 3
DVD 3
Debout la République (N. Dupont-Aignan) 2
CNIP 2
DVG 2
Forum des républicains sociaux (C. Boutin) 1
MPF 1
MRC 1
Corse social-démocrate 1
PCR 1
Parti progressiste Martiniquais 1
Mouvement pour l'indépendance de la Martinique 1
Parti progressiste démocratique guadeloupéen 1
Walwari 1
Cap sur l'Avenir (St. Pierre et Miquelon PRG) 1

This is multi-party France

[Colin]

MRC was the only one that I couldn't find on Wikipedia. Which party is that?

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Mouvement Républicain et Citoyen, Chevenement's party.

The lone MRC deputé is Christian Hutin (Nord), a former RPR Gaullist.

[Colin]

Mouvement Républicain et Citoyen, Chevenement's party.

The lone MRC deputé is Christian Hutin (Nord), a former RPR Gaullist.

Should have guessed that it was another small souverainist party.

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For ref, the above by groups:

UMP (UMP)
PS (SRC)
Nouveau Centre-PSLE (NC)
PCF (GDR)
Parti Radical (UMP)
Parti Radical (SRC)
Les Verts (GDR)
MoDem (NI)
DVD (UMP)
Debout la République (UMP)
CNIP (UMP)
DVG (SRC, GDR, or NI)
Forum des républicains sociaux (UMP)
MPF (UMP)
MRC (SRC)
Corse social-démocrate (SRC)
PCR (GDR)
Parti progressiste Martiniquais (NI or SRC, never found out)
Mouvement pour l'indépendance de la Martinique (GDR)
Parti progressiste démocratique guadeloupéen (SRC I guess)
Walwari (SRC)
Cap sur l'Avenir (SRC)

[Democratic Hawk]

Parti Radical (left) 6

Weren't they once the major party of the French Left? Third and/or Fourth Republic?

Dave

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Mostly Third Republic, they were the main party in French politics then. They were a strongly secular (and anti-clerical) party that passed the 1905 law on secularism. Their first major win was the 1902 election, they lost in 1919 to the right, but came back in the next election as the dominant party of the Cartel des Gauches and for a while in the Front Populaire. Their decline started by the 1936 election when the SFIO replaced them as dominant party of the FP. They participated in the third force of the fourth republic but they were rapidly declining and the 5th republic was well.. not too good for them seeing they split into parties with crazy abbreviations (RGR, MGR...)

[Democratic Hawk]

Mostly Third Republic, they were the main party in French politics then. They were a strongly secular (and anti-clerical) party that passed the 1905 law on secularism. Their first major win was the 1902 election, they lost in 1919 to the right, but came back in the next election as the dominant party of the Cartel des Gauches and for a while in the Front Populaire. Their decline started by the 1936 election when the SFIO replaced them as dominant party of the FP. They participated in the third force of the fourth republic but they were rapidly declining and the 5th republic was well.. not too good for them seeing they split into parties with crazy abbreviations (RGR, MGR...)

Thanks

Has France always been geographically polarised between Left and Right? Are the areas where the Left Radicals used to dominate now PS 'fiefdoms' (for want of a better word)? I gather the PCF are weak compared to what they were too

I don't know very much about French politics

Dave

[Hash]

Mostly Third Republic, they were the main party in French politics then. They were a strongly secular (and anti-clerical) party that passed the 1905 law on secularism. Their first major win was the 1902 election, they lost in 1919 to the right, but came back in the next election as the dominant party of the Cartel des Gauches and for a while in the Front Populaire. Their decline started by the 1936 election when the SFIO replaced them as dominant party of the FP. They participated in the third force of the fourth republic but they were rapidly declining and the 5th republic was well.. not too good for them seeing they split into parties with crazy abbreviations (RGR, MGR...)

Thanks

Has France always been geographically polarised between Left and Right? Are the areas where the Left Radicals used to dominate now PS 'fiefdoms' (for want of a better word)? I gather the PCF are weak compared to what they were too

I don't know very much about French politics

Dave

Yes, politics are now a left-right affair mostly, under the 4th republic there was a large coalition of the SFIO (now PS), Radical, UDSR (socialist), and the christian democratic MRP "a party of the right with rightist votes that follows a leftist political program in a leftist coalition". The opposition, that everybody hated, was the PCF and the Gaullist RPF. Under the later third republics politics were mostly (radical) left vs. centre/right. In the early third republic politics were conservative royalists vs. socialist republicans. The royalist decline started in 1877 following Mac Mahon's dissolution (like Chirac 97, he lost) of the assembly. Before then, the Assembly was dominated by a huge majority of either leftists or bourgeois royalists. Geographically, yes, in a way. The 1965 map is similar to the 2007 map, with only a few differences. Only a few regions swung remarkably from left to right or vice-versa, such as the Cote d'Azur or Bretagne. I can't really say much on the pre-1945 electoral map as I don't have my French atlas with me, but I can get back to you.

The PCF is much weaker, even in the tradition ceinture rouge in the Paris suburbs, Buffet barely cracked 5% in le Blanc-Mesnil I think, and that's a traditionally PCF stronghold. 10% is about the best the PCF can do in a normal situation (a normal situation where they're not the only leftist party).

Oh, feel free to ask me what you wish.