ABSTRACT
EMERGENCE AND CHARACTERISTICS MRP arrived spectacularly on the French political scene. In 1936 less than 3 per cent of the French electorate had voted for the Parti Démocrat Populaire and Jeune République; in 1945-46 no less than 25 per cent voted for MRP. Mushroom growth by French parties and political movements has not been uncommon, for example the Boulangists in the 1880s and Poujadists in the 1950s, but usually parties of this type have quickly been cut to size or disintegrated. To some extent MRP suffered from its rapid growth, but the party nevertheless settled down, after the 1947 desertions to the Gaullist RPF, to a position of major importance in the politics of the Fourth Republic. MRP’S electorate of 5,000,000 in November 1946 was halved in 1951, but there was virtually no change in 1956. And, although the party’s parliamentary representation dropped from over 170 to under 100, MRP continued to play an important governmental role owing to the continuing necessity for coalitions of the centre.1
