Country: | French Third Republic |
Type: | parliamentary |
Previous Election: | 1881 French legislative election |
Previous Year: | 1881 |
Election Date: | 4–18 October 1885 |
Next Election: | 1889 French legislative election |
Next Year: | 1889 |
Seats For Election: | All 584 seats in the Chamber of Deputies |
Majority Seats: | 293 |
Image1: | Eugene Henri Brisson young (cropped).jpg |
Leader1: | Henri Brisson |
Party1: | Opportunist Republicans |
Seats1: | 200 |
Party2: | Moderates |
Color2: | FFC0C0 |
Seats2: | 83 |
Image3: | Armand de Mackau (1832-1918).jpg |
Leader3: | Armand de Mackau |
Party3: | Monarchists |
Color3: | 1F497D |
Seats3: | 73 |
Prime Minister | |
Before Election: | Henri Brisson |
Before Party: | Republican Union |
After Election: | Henri Brisson |
After Party: | Democratic Union |
Legislative elections were held in France on 4 and 18 October 1885. Following the deaths of Napoléon, Prince Imperial and the Comte de Chambord, the monarchists and Bonapartists formed a conservative electoral alliance under the leadership of the Baron de Mackau. In the first round of the election, the conservatives won 176 seats, whereas the Opportunist Republicans - partly because radical and moderate Republicans ran against each other, underestimating the danger from the right - only won 127. However, in the second round the radical and moderate Republicans agreed that the worse-placed Republican candidates would withdraw, and Republicans won 244 seats to the conservatives' 25, leading to a Republican victory.[1]
Henri Brisson remained prime minister immediately after the elections, but resigned in December following his defeat in the presidential election to the incumbent, Jules Grévy. Brisson was replaced by Charles de Freycinet.