The first-ever French presidential election of 1848 elected the first—and only—President of the Second Republic

French Second Republic

The French Second Republic was the republican government of France between the 1848 Revolution and the coup by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte which initiated the Second Empire. It officially adopted the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité...

. The election was held on 10 December 1848 and led to the surprise victory of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte

Napoleon III of France

Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...

 with 74% of the vote.

Election

The constitution only included provision for one round, and in the absence of a majority for any candidate, the National Assembly would have decided the victor. Louis-Eugène Cavaignac seemed certain to win, and the Assembly would have most certainly elected him in the absence of an absolute majority.

However, Bonaparte had no long political career behind him and was able to depict himself as "all things to some men". The Monarchist

Monarchism

Monarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy as a form of government in a nation. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government out of principle, independent from the person, the Monarch.In this system, the Monarch may be the...

 right (supporters of either the Legitimist

Legitimists

Legitimists are royalists in France who adhere to the rights of dynastic succession of the descendants of the elder branch of the Bourbon dynasty, which was overthrown in the 1830 July Revolution. They reject the claim of the July Monarchy of 1830–1848, whose kings were members of the junior...

 or Orléanist

Orléanist

The Orléanists were a French right-wing/center-right party which arose out of the French Revolution. It governed France 1830-1848 in the "July Monarchy" of king Louis Philippe. It is generally seen as a transitional period dominated by the bourgeoisie and the conservative Orleanist doctrine in...

 royal households) and much of the upper class supported him as the "least worst" candidate, as a man who would restore order, end the instability in France which had continued since the overthrow of the monarchy in February, and prevent a proto-communist revolution (in the vein of Friedrich Engels

Friedrich Engels

Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...

). A good proportion of the industrial working class, on the other hand, were won over by Louis-Napoleon's vague indications of progressive economic views

Economic progressivism

Economic progressivism is the name given to the economic views of social democrats and progressives. These views are often rooted in a strong sense of social justice...

. His overwhelming victory was above all due to the support of the non-politicized rural masses, to whom the name of Bonaparte meant something, as opposed to the other, little-known contenders.

Results

Candidate		Ideology	Percent
	Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte	Bonapartist Bonapartism Bonapartism is often defined as a political expression in the vocabulary of Marxism and Leninism, deriving from the career of Napoleon Bonaparte. Karl Marx was a student of Jacobinism and the French Revolution as well as a contemporary critic of the Second Republic and Second Empire...	74.44%
	Louis-Eugène Cavaignac	Centrist republican	19.65%
	Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin was a French politician.The grandson of Nicolas Philippe Ledru, the celebrated quack doctor known as "Comus" under Louis XV and Louis XVI, Ledru-Rollin was born in a house that had once been Paul Scarron's, at Fontenay-aux-Roses...	Republican social democrat Social democracy Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...	5.08%
	François-Vincent Raspail François-Vincent Raspail François-Vincent Raspail was a French chemist, naturalist, physiologist, and socialist politician.-Biography:...	Socialist	0.49%
	Alphonse de Lamartine Alphonse de Lamartine Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine was a French writer, poet and politician who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic.-Career:...	Classical liberal Classical liberalism Classical liberalism is the philosophy committed to the ideal of limited government, constitutionalism, rule of law, due process, and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets....	0.28%
	Nicolas Anne Théodule Changarnier Nicolas Anne Théodule Changarnier Nicolas Anne Theodule Changarnier , French general, was born at Autun, Saône-et-Loire.Educated at St Cyr, he served for a short time in the bodyguard of Louis XVIII, and entered the line as a lieutenant in January 1815. He achieved distinction in the Spanish campaign of 1823, and became captain in...	Legitimist Legitimists Legitimists are royalists in France who adhere to the rights of dynastic succession of the descendants of the elder branch of the Bourbon dynasty, which was overthrown in the 1830 July Revolution. They reject the claim of the July Monarchy of 1830–1848, whose kings were members of the junior...	0.06%
Total			100%

Bonaparte received a plurality or majority in all departments except the Var, :Bouches-du-Rhône, Morbihan

Morbihan

Morbihan is a department in Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Morbihan , the enclosed sea that is the principal feature of the coastline.-History:...

, and Finistère

Finistère

Finistère is a département of France, in the extreme west of Brittany.-History:The name Finistère derives from the Latin Finis Terræ, meaning end of the earth, and may be compared with Land's End on the opposite side of the English Channel...

, all four were won by Louis-Eugène Cavaignac. Thus did Bonaparte become the second president of the then-Europe (after Jonas Furrer

Jonas Furrer

Jonas Furrer was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council . He was affiliated to the Radical Party.He was elected to the Federal Council on November 16, 1848 as one of the seven initial members....

 of Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

) and the first to be elected by a popular vote.