Bringing in the far right: The electoral impact of the French Algerian repatriates

Abstract

This paper examines how repatriated populations from former colonies affect election outcomes in the mainland. Algeria became independent on July 3, 1962, after more than a hundred years under French colonial rule. Fearing for their safety, the French Algerians of European descent fled the country massively and suddenly. I assemble a data set consisting of census and electoral data stretching from 1945 to 2022. I exploit the uneven distribution of the repatriates from Algeria across municipalities and within electoral districts to measure their impact on vote shares. I find that an increase in the share of repatriates led to a lasting increase in far-right vote shares within districts. I provide direct evidence on how the political preferences of the repatriates fueled this rise that persisted over time and generations. Analyzing the dynamic impact of the repatriation shock from the 1965 to 2022 elections reveals a shift in repatriates’ motivations: initially rooted in appeals to their material interests, their support for the far-right later became primarily driven by anti-immigration concerns.