The Republican Front was a French center-left coalition which won the 1956 legislative election. In the context of the Algerian War, behind Pierre Mendès-France

Pierre Mendès-France

Pierre Mendès France was a French politician. He descended from a Portuguese Jewish family that moved to France in the sixteenth century.-Third Republic and World War II:...

, it gathered the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), the Radical Party, the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance

Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance

The Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance was a French political party found at the Liberation and in activity during the Fourth Republic...

 and the National Center of Social Republicans

Gaullist Party

In France, the Gaullist Party is usually used to refer to the largest party professing to be Gaullist. Gaullism claimed to transcend the left/right rift...

 which came from a split of the Gaullist movement.

The leader of the SFIO, Guy Mollet

Guy Mollet

Guy Mollet was a French Socialist politician. He led the French Section of the Workers' International party from 1946 to 1969 and was Prime Minister in 1956–1957.-Early life and World War II:...

 became President of the Council

Prime Minister of France

The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...

. His tenure was the longest of any Premier during the unstable French Fourth Republic

French Fourth Republic

The French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II, and suffered many of the same problems...

. But his harsh policy in Algeria caused a division in the coalition and the resignation of Pierre Mendès-France

Pierre Mendès-France

Pierre Mendès France was a French politician. He descended from a Portuguese Jewish family that moved to France in the sixteenth century.-Third Republic and World War II:...

and of some ministers.