August 1815 French legislative election

1815 French legislative election

18 and 28 August 1815
All 400 seats in the Chamber of Deputies 201 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader François-Régis de La Bourdonnaye Party Ultra-royalist Opposition Seats won 350 50
Prime Minister before election Joseph Fouché Elected Prime Minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand

Legislative elections were held in France on 18 and 28 August 1815 to elect members of the first Chamber of Deputies of the Bourbon Restoration.

Electoral system

Electoral colleges elected a number of candidates equal to the number of deputies. Electoral colleges of the departments chose half of the deputies from these candidates and the other half were chosen freely. These electoral colleges were organised under strict property requirements, with the former half being selected by men above the age of forty paying a direct tax of over 1,000 francs, or those fifty most taxed, depending on the number of eligible voters under the first criterion, and the latter half selected by men above the age of thirty paying a direct tax of over 300 francs. There were up to six hundred eligible voters in each departmental college, with a ratio such that there could only be one elector per thousand inhabitants.

Results

The Ultra-royalists won 350 seats.

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Ultra-royalist			350
	Opposition			50
Total				400
Total votes		40,000	–
Source: Election-Politique, Roi et President

Aftermath

The sweeping victory of the ultra-royalists led to the formation of the chambre introuvable, which prided itself on being more royalist than the king, or plus royaliste que le roi, led on by a fierce counter-revolutionary spirit with a new generation of polemicists and hardliners, such as François-René de Chateaubriand. Due to the reactionary radicalism of this new chamber, Louis XVIII dissolved it in September 1816 in order to reduce tensions, calling the 1816 French legislative election under more equal terms of suffrage.