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French legislative election took place on June 9 and 16, 2002 to elect the 12th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic, in a context of political crisis. The Socialist Prime minister Lionel Jospin announced his political retirement after his elimination at the first round of the 2002 French presidential election. President Jacques Chirac was easily reelected, all the republican parties having called to block far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen. Chirac's conservative supporters created the Union for the Presidential Majority (Union pour la majorité présidentielle or UMP) to prepare the legislative election. The first round of the presidential election was a shock for the two main coalitions. The candidates of the parliamentary right obtained 32% of votes, and the representings of the "Plural Left" only 27%. In the first polls, for the legislative election, they were equal. The UMP campaigned against "cohabitation", which is accused to cause confusion profitable to far-right and far-left. So it asked the parliamentary majority concord with President. This one chosen for Prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, an unfamous political who said listen "France of the bottom". Without real leader, and staggered by surprising April 21's results, the left was in difficulty. The Socialist chairman François Hollande tried to revive the "Plural Left" under the name of "United Left"; but the effort was undermined by the fact that it didn't have a real programme. Furthemore, the left-wing parties could not motivate their voters against an unrecognized politician as Jean-Pierre Raffarin. All the more as a part of the left-wing electorate did not want a new "cohabitation". Finally, the polls indicated a growing advantage for the Presidential Majority. The right won the election and the UMP obtained a large parliamentary majority. For the third time under the Fifth Republic, a party acquired an absolute majority (the "blue surge"). Five months later, it became the Union for a Popular Movement. In left, the Socialist Party achieved a better result than at the winning 1997 elections, but its allies were crushed. The far-left returned towards its usual level. In far-right, the National Front lost the half of its May 5 voters.
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