title: 1983 French municipal elections
text: # 1983 French municipal elections
  
  Municipal elections were held in France on 6 and 13 March 1983. President François Mitterrand and leader of the Socialist Party held power since May 1981.
  
  The left-wing coalition of the Socialists and Communists, in power for only two years, was defeated in the 1983 local elections by the RPR-UDF right-wing opposition. Voter disillusionment with Pierre Mauroy government's tournant de la rigueur ("austerity turn") played a key role in the defeat. The Communists lost Saint-Étienne and Reims, while the PS lost Tourcoing, Grenoble, and Roubaix. They narrowly held Marseille (with Gaston Defferre) against Jean-Claude Gaudin (UDF). In Paris, RPR Leader Jacques Chirac was easily re-elected, sweeping all arrondissements.
  
  ## Sources
  
  * Locals 1983
  * E-P Locals
  * ↑ Birch, Jonah (19 August 2015). "The Many Lives of François Mitterrand". Jacobin. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  