In the parliamentary elections of 1993, the PS did very bad, being plagued by corruption and deep infightings. So, the Green president, facing disorder in her administration and failures after some naive measures, is unable to lead a new parliamentary majority and is forced to see a "cohabitation" with the UMP new majority.
Come the presidential elections of 1995, the constant infightings and shenanigans of the Greens lead them not to pick her again as a candidate. They pick Yves Cochet, who seems less tainted by power and more "traditional" in his "greenness".
Even if in deep trouble, the Socialists managed to nominate Bertrand Delanoë, who seems able to regain leadership over the entire left.
The UMP, which is very strong in the Parliament, isn't able to nominate only one candidate and Jean-François Copé, incumbent PM and having implemented a rather wise policy, and Xavier Bertrand, more "local", more "traditional" than Copé in a way but forced to run as the "outsider", are both candidates.
9 candidates:
Xavier Bertrand (<-> Jacques Chirac, one of the 2 big leaders of the right at the time, arch-enemy of his so-called political mate)
Jean-François Copé (<-> Edouard Balladur, one of the 2 big leaders of the right at the time, arch-enemy of his so-called political mate;
of course, you may argue that Bertrand is sarkozyst and so should be Balladur and that Copé, as a former juppéist, should be Chirac; and you may argue that Bertrand sticks to power and Copé is a bit rebellious inside the majority; BUT Bertrand was also juppéist in a way and, what is more, Bertrand is now more on the right and is more positioned as the former RPR candidate, while Copé, though "libéral", is more moderate and could be closer to the former UDF)
Bertrand Delanoë (<-> Lionel Jospin, socialist leader a bit forgotten at the time, in the mainstream wing of the PS, and, well, Delanoë was a strong jospinist !)
Alain Bocquet (<-> Robert Hue, who was quite orthodox in 1995, like Bocquet is now; and the same "outline", the same stoutness....
)
Louis Aliot (<-> Jean-Marie Le Pen, FN leader, a "legitimist" one)
Christian Picquet (<-> Arlette Laguiller, Trotskyite leader, quite open to alliances with the rest of the far-left and the PCF at the time)
Paul-Marie Coûteaux (<-> Philippe de Villiers, "souverainiste" candidate at the time, more than anything else)
Yves Cochet (<-> Dominique Voynet, mainstream Green, in favour of "classic" left alliance, with a possible ministerial future)
Alain Soral (<-> Jacques Cheminade, a joke and weird mix of "ouvriérisme" and far-right, with weird financial resources from the outside)
9 candidates so
9 votes that you must cast only like this: 6 - 2 - 1
