eft.3 This widely-held public perception contributed to the electoral defeat of the Green Party in France in 1993, although pre-election polls had indicated that the party would received from 16 percent to 18 percent of the total vote.4
The two principal green parties in France are Vert and Generation Ecologie.5 For the 1993 election, the two parties cooperated and fielded a single candidate representing both parties in most constituencies. Vert candidates ran in 278 constituencies, while Generation Ecologie candidates ran in 269 constituencies. Each party fielded candidates in eight constituencies. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, French green parties as a group never captured more than five percent of the national vote. Vert candidates, however, captured nearly 11 percent of the vote in the 1989 elections for French representatives to the European Parliament. That showing plus the agreement by the two parties to field joint candidates in most constituencies generated strong optimism for the 1993 election. The common aims of the two ecology parties included the introduction of proportional representation in the National Assembly, work-sharing to be attained through a reduction of the work week to 35 hours without loss of income for the lowest paid workers in the country, a gradual phasing-out of the French nuclear energy program, and support for global disarmament.
During the election, the joint ecology ticket was not as successful as had been predicted.6 The defeat was characterized as "crushing" by some observers who had thought the joint green ticket had a chance to form the government following the election. Overall, however, the combined ecology parties polled only slightly lower than had been projected. The future of the ecology parties in France appears to be as a part of a new coalition of Greens and socialists.7
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