| Country: | France |
| Type: | legislative |
| Previous Election: | 1932 French legislative election |
| Previous Year: | 1932 |
| Next Election: | 1945 French legislative election |
| Next Year: | 1945 |
| Seats For Election: | All 612 seats in the Chamber of Deputies |
| Majority Seats: | 307 |
| Election Date: | 26 April 1936 (first round) 3 May 1936 (second round) |
| Registered: | 11,768,491 |
| Turnout: | 84.45% |
| Leader1: | Léon Blum |
| Party1: | French Section of the Workers International |
| Leaders Seat1: | Narbonne |
| Last Election1: | 129 seats |
| Seats1: | 149 |
| Seat Change1: | 20 |
| Popular Vote1: | 1,955,306 |
| Percentage1: | 19.86% |
| Swing1: | 0.65pp |
| Leader2: | Édouard Daladier |
| Party2: | PRRRS |
| Leaders Seat2: | Orange |
| Last Election2: | 157 seats |
| Seats2: | 111 |
| Seat Change2: | 46 |
| Popular Vote2: | 1,422,611 |
| Percentage2: | 14.45% |
| Swing2: | 4.73pp |
| Leader3: | Louis Marin |
| Party3: | Republican Union |
| Leaders Seat3: | Meurthe-et-Moselle |
| Last Election3: | 76 seats |
| Seats3: | 128 |
| Seat Change3: | 52 |
| Popular Vote3: | 1,666,004 |
| Percentage3: | 16.92% |
| Swing3: | 4.04pp |
| Leader4: | Pierre-Étienne Flandin |
| Party4: | Republican Left |
| Leaders Seat4: | Yonne |
| Last Election4: | 72 seats |
| Seats4: | 95 |
| Seat Change4: | 23 |
| Popular Vote4: | 2,536,294 |
| Percentage4: | 25.76% |
| Swing4: | 12.19pp |
| Leader5: | Maurice Thorez |
| Party5: | French Communist Party |
| Leaders Seat5: | Seine |
| Last Election5: | 12 seats |
| Seats5: | 72 |
| Seat Change5: | 60 |
| Popular Vote5: | 1,502,404 |
| Percentage5: | 15.26% |
| Swing5: | 6.94pp |
| Government | |
| Before Election: | Albert Sarraut II |
| After Election: | Léon Blum I |
| After Party: | SFIO (Popular Front) |
| Alliance1: | Popular Front |
| Alliance2: | Popular Front |
| Alliance3: | National Front |
| Alliance3 Name: | no |
| Alliance4: | National Front |
| Alliance4 Name: | no |
| Alliance5: | Popular Front |
Legislative elections were held in France on 26 April and 3 May 1936, the last elections before World War II. The number of candidates set a record, with 4,807 running for election to the Chamber of Deputies. In the Seine Department alone, there were 1,402 candidates.[1]
The Popular Front, composed of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), the Radical-Socialists, the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC), and miscellaneous leftists, won power from the broad Republican coalitions that had governed since the 6 February 1934 crisis. Léon Blum became president of the council.
The SFIC, predecessor of the Communist Party, more than tripled its seats total from 11 SFIC and 9 Union Ouvrière deputies in 1932 to 72 in 1936. The party made gains in industrialized suburbs and working-class areas of major cities. They also progressed in rural central and southwestern France (e.g., Dordogne, Lot-et-Garonne)The Radicals lost votes to the SFIO and SFIC, but also to the right.The SFIO declined slightly. In working-class suburbs, the party declined, but it gained votes in Brittany, to the dismay of the right.Only 174 seats were elected in the first round, 424 were decided in a run-off. The right fared better in the second round.