| Election Name: | 1962 French legislative election |
| Country: | France |
| Type: | legislative |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1958 French legislative election |
| Previous Year: | 1958 |
| Next Election: | 1967 French legislative election |
| Next Year: | 1967 |
| Seats For Election: | All seats in the French National Assembly |
| Election Date: | 18 November and 25 November 1962 |
| Turnout: | 68.7% (8.4 pp) (1st round) 72.1% (3.4 pp) (2nd round) |
| Leader1: | Georges Pompidou |
| Party1: | Union for the New Republic |
| Leaders Seat1: | Cantal-2nd |
| Last Election1: | 189 seats |
| Seats1: | 229 |
| Seat Change1: | 40 |
| Popular Vote1: | 5,855,744 (round) 6,169,890 (round) |
| Percentage1: | 31.94% (round) 40.43% (round) |
| Leader2: | Guy Mollet |
| Party2: | French Section of the Workers International |
| Leaders Seat2: | Pas-de-Calais-1st |
| Last Election2: | 40 seats |
| Seats2: | 65 |
| Seat Change2: | 25 |
| Popular Vote2: | 2,298,729 (round) 2,264,011 (round) |
| Percentage2: | 12.54% (round) 14.84% (round) |
| Colour3: | FFBF00 |
| Leader3: | Maurice Faure |
| Party3: | Radical Party (France) |
| Leaders Seat3: | Lot |
| Last Election3: | 37 seats |
| Seats3: | 42 |
| Seat Change3: | 5 |
| Popular Vote3: | 1,429,649 (1st round) 1,172,711 (2nd round) |
| Percentage3: | 7.80% (1st round) 7.69% (2nd round) |
| Leader4: | Maurice Thorez |
| Party4: | French Communist Party |
| Leaders Seat4: | Seine |
| Last Election4: | 10 seats |
| Seats4: | 41 |
| Seat Change4: | 31 |
| Popular Vote4: | 4,003,553 (1st round) 3,195,763 (2nd round) |
| Percentage4: | 21.84% (1st round) 20.94% (2nd round) |
| Leader5: | André Colin |
| Party5: | Popular Republican Movement |
| Leaders Seat5: | Finistère (Senator) |
| Last Election5: | 57 seats |
| Seats5: | 36 |
| Seat Change5: | 21 |
| Popular Vote5: | 1,665,695 (round) 821,635 (round) |
| Percentage5: | 9.09% (round) 5.38% (round) |
| Leader6: | Camille Laurens |
| Party6: | National Centre of Independents and Peasants |
| Last Election6: | 132 seats |
| Seats6: | 28 |
| Seat Change6: | 104 |
| Popular Vote6: | 1,404,177 (1st round) - (2nd round) |
| Percentage6: | 7.66% (1st round) - (2nd round) |
| Leader7: | Valéry Giscard d'Estaing |
| Party7: | Independent Republicans |
| Leaders Seat7: | Puy-de-Dôme |
| Last Election7: | N/A (split from CNIP) |
| Seats7: | 20 |
| Seat Change7: | N/A |
| Popular Vote7: | 1,089,348 (1st round) 1,444,666 (2nd round) |
| Percentage7: | 5.94% (1st round) 9.47% (2nd round) |
| Prime Minister | |
| Before Election: | Georges Pompidou |
| Before Party: | Union for the New Republic |
| After Election: | Georges Pompidou |
| After Party: | Union for the New Republic |
Legislative elections were held in France on 18 November and 25 November 1962 to elect the second National Assembly of the Fifth Republic.
Since 1959 and the change of Algerian policy (Charles de Gaulle decided in favour of the "self-government" and "Algerian Algeria"), France had faced bomb attacks by the Secret Armed Organization (Organisation armée secrète or OAS) which opposed the independence of Algeria, negotiated by the FLN with the March 1962 Evian agreements and approved by referendum by the French people. This policy was disapproved by some members of the "Presidential Majority".
Simultaneously, when Georges Pompidou replaced Michel Debré as prime minister, the center-right parties (MRP and CNIP) left the majority due to de Gaulle's eurosceptic declaration. Like the Left, they denounced the presidentialization of the regime.
On 22 August de Gaulle escaped from an assassination attempt by the OAS in Le Petit-Clamart. He subsequently announced a controversial referendum in which he proposed the election of the president of the French Republic under universal suffrage. The presidential majority composed of the UNR and the Independent Republicans (RI) (which came from a CNIP split) campaigned for a "yes", while all the other parties formed a "coalition of no" and brought down Pompidou's cabinet by a vote of no confidence (motion de censure).[1]
However, de Gaulle finally won the referendum and dissolved the National Assembly. During the legislative campaign, all the parties, except the UNR and the RI, criticized the "personal power" which they believed distorted France's Republican institutions. In the French political culture and in their mind, Republicanism was inseparable from parliamentary democracy and the reinforcement of the presidential powers was associated with Bonapartism. Contrary to the previous legislative election, the left-wing parties finalized an electoral agreement. The subsequent legislative elections saw advances for the left-wing opposition. However, conservative voters sanctioned the center-right parties, preferring to vote for the Gaullist party. Pompidou became Prime Minister again.