1995 French presidential election

Presidential elections took place in France on 23 April and 7 May 1995, to elect the fifth president of the Fifth Republic.

The incumbent Socialist president, François Mitterrand, did not stand for a third term. He was 78, had cancer, and his party had lost the previous legislative election. Since 1993, he had been "cohabiting" with a conservative cabinet led by Edouard Balladur, a member of the Neo-Gaullist RPR. Balladur had promised the leader of the RPR, Jacques Chirac, that he would not run for the presidency, but as polls showed him doing well and he had the support of many conservative politicians, he decided to run. The competition within the right between Balladur and Chirac was a major component of the campaign.

Meanwhile, the left was weakened by scandals and disappointments regarding Mitterrand's presidency. In June 1994, the former Prime Minister Michel Rocard was dismissed from the head of Socialist Party (PS) after the poor result of the European Parliament election. Then, Jacques Delors decided not to stand as a candidate because he disagreed with the re-alignment on the left operated by the new party leader Henri Emmanuelli. The former Education minister Lionel Jospin was elected by the PS members. He promised to restore the credibility and the moral reputation of his party, but his chances of winning were thin.

The French Communist Party (PCF) tried to stop its electoral decline. Its new leader Robert Hue campaigned against "king money" and wanted to represent a renewed communism. He was faced with competition for the far left vote by the trotskyist candidacy of Arlette Laguiller who ran for the fourth time. Both of these candidates had a better result than their parties had in 1988, but came nowhere near being able to participate in the next round. In choosing Dominique Voynet, the Greens opted for their integration in the left.

In the far-right, Jean-Marie Le Pen tried to repeat his surprising result that he obtained in the previous presidential election. His main rival for the far-right vote was Philippe de Villiers, candidate of the euro-sceptic parliamentary right.

In January 1995, when he announced his candidacy, Balladur was the favorite of the political right. According to SOFRES polls institute, he held an advantage of 14 points over Chirac (32% against 18% for the first round). He took advantage of his "positive assessment" as Prime Minister and advocated a moderately liberal economic policy. Chirac denounced the "social fracture" and criticized the "dominant thought", targeting Balladur. Chirac argued, "the pay slip is not the enemy of employment". Indeed, unemployment was the main theme of the campaign. From the start of March, Chirac gained ground on Balladur in the polls.

Chirac's campaign slogan was "France for everyone"; Balladur's: "Believe in France"; and Jospin's: "A clear vote for a more just France".

First round

Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Lionel Jospin	Socialist Party (PS)	7,098,191	23.30%
Jacques Chirac	Rally for the Republic (RPR)	6,348,696	20.84%
Édouard Balladur	splinter of Rally for the Republic (RPR)	5,658,996	18.57%
Jean-Marie Le Pen	Front National (FN)	4,571,138	15.00%
Robert Hue	French Communist Party (PCF)	2,638,936	8.66%
Arlette Laguiller	Lutte Ouvrière	1,615,653	5.30%
Philippe de Villiers	Movement for France (MPF)	1,443,235	4.74%
Dominique Voynet	Les Verts	1,010,738	3.32%
Jacques Cheminade	(affiliated with the LaRouche Movement)	84,969	0.28%
Total		30,470,552	100%

Lionel Jospin finished first, in what appeared to be an electoral recovery for the Socialist Party. His right-wing challenger for the second round was Jacques Chirac and not Edouard Balladur. Defeated, Balladur endorsed the RPR candidate. Jean-Marie Le Pen repeated his good result of the previous presidential election.

During the TV debate between the two finalists, they disagreed about the presidential term. Jospin wanted to reduce it to 5 years whereas Chirac was in favour of the 7-years term. The PS candidate responded: "the choice is 5 years with me or 7 years with Jacques Chirac, which will be very long". Eventually, the presidential term was reduced to 5 years after the 2002 election.

Second round

Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Jacques Chirac	Rally for the Republic (RPR)	15,763,027	52.64%
Lionel Jospin	Socialist Party (PS)	14,180,644	47.36%
Total		29,943,671	100%

Jacques Chirac was elected President of the French Republic. Edouard Balladur resigned as prime minister and foreign minister Alain Juppé succeeded him.