1902 French legislative election

The 1902 general election was held on 27 April and 11 May 1902.

1902 French legislative election

27 April and 11 May 1902
All 589 seats to the Chamber of Deputies 295 seats needed for a majority
Registered	11,058,702
Turnout	8,412,724 (76.1%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Émile Combes Jules Méline Jacques Piou Party Bloc des gauches Parties Radical Party Democratic Republican Alliance French Socialist Party Miscellaneous left Progressive Republicans Right-wing coalition Parties Liberal Action Royalists Nationalists Leader's seat Not presented (Senator for Charente-Inférieure) Vosges Haute-Garonne (lost) Seats won 338 127 124 Seat change 103 127 28 Popular vote 4,828,905 1,808,736 1,766,672 Percentage 57.4% 21.5% 21.0% Swing 17% 21.8% 4.6%
Prime Minister before election Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau ARD Elected Prime Minister Émile Combes Radical Party

These elections were 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]