1849 French legislative election

1849 French legislative election

13 and 14 May 1849
All 705 seats in the National Assembly 353 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Odilon Barrot Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin Louis-Eugène Cavaignac Party Party of Order Montagnard Republican Seats won 450 180 75 Popular vote 3,310,000 1,955,000 834,000 Percentage 50.20% 29.65% 12.65%
Results by department (monarchists in blue, democratic socialists in red)
Prime Minister before election Odilon Barrot Party of Order Elected Prime Minister Alphonse Henri, comte d'Hautpoul Party of Order

Parliamentary elections were held in France on 13 and 14 May 1849. Voters elected the first National Assembly of the Second Republic. The conservative Party of Order won an overall majority of 450 seats. The Party of Order was a bourgeois, traditionalist, and conservative party opposed to the presidency of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte and the subsequent 1851 coup.

Results

Vote counts and registered voters listed below are approximate.

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Party of Order	3,310,000	50.20	450
	Democratic Socialists	1,955,000	29.65	180
	Constitutionalist Republicans	834,000	12.65	75
	Independents and others	495,000	7.51	0
Total		6,594,000	100.00	705
Valid votes		6,594,000	97.47
Invalid/blank votes		171,000	2.53
Total votes		6,765,000	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		9,936,000	68.09
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, Rois et Presidents

Senegal

The single Senegalese seat in the National Assembly was created by decree on 5 March 1848. Following an order of 5 November 1830 and a law of 24 April 1833, all free-born people and freed slaves in Senegal had full civic and political rights, the only French African colony to give such rights until the end of World War II. The right to vote was given to all men over the age of 25 and who could prove they had lived in their municipality for the previous five years. In total 4,991 men registered to vote, up from 4,706 in the 1848 elections. Result:

Candidate	Votes	%
Barthélémy Durand Valantin	1,319	64.94
Masson	472	23.24
Petiton	240	11.82
Total	2,031	100.00
Valid votes	2,031	99.90
Invalid/blank votes	2	0.10
Total votes	2,033	100.00
Registered voters/turnout	4,991	40.73
Source: Sternberger et al., National Assembly

Incumbent MP Barthélémy Durand Valantin was re-elected with 65% of the vote. Valantin retired from politics in 1851, but before a by-election could be held, a decree of 2 February 1852 abolished Senegalese representation in the National Assembly.