Word: first-round
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Another factor was the steady rise of Socialist strength since Mitterrand took over the party leadership in 1971, and the corresponding decline of the Communists. While Mitterrand won 25.8% of the first-round presidential votes, Communist Leader Georges Marchais took only a humiliating 15.3%, a quarter less than the longtime Communist share of the electorate. As a result of that diminished standing, it seemed safe to vote for the left, for the first time since the Fifth Republic was founded in 1958, without handing the Communists a predominant role in government. At the same time, Marchais instructed his own disciplined...
...became clogged with ballhogs and playground freelancers, Auerbach decided to clean house. His first major acquisition was Maxwell, a former University of North Carolina-Charlotte standout. Spindly at 6 ft. 8 in., 217 lbs., Maxwell looks awkward walking across a room, but displays a spidery grace leaping for rebounds or twisting over the outstretched arms of defenders as he soars for a layup. Last year he was joined at forward by Larry Bird, the Indiana State star who was a first-round draft choice as a junior and signed as a senior for a reported $650,000 a year. That...
Communist Party Chief Georges Marchais, though visibly shaken by his first-round setback, was hardly resigned to a marginal role under a Mitterrand presidency, however. Indeed, Marchais was quick to show that ill urging his disciplined followers to vote for Mitterrand in last week's runoff, he was making less than a genuine fraternal gesture of leftist solidarity. "This is not a blank check," he said and then asked, "Have you ever seen me support anyone for free?" There is little doubt that the wily proletarian leader will soon be knocking at the portals of Elysée Palace...
Giscard emerged on top from the first round, but in a particularly vulnerable position. His lead was a dispiriting 28.3% of the vote, compared with his 32.6% first-round score in the 1974 presidential elections. Even then he had, barely managed to beat Mitterrand by 1.6% in the runoff. This time Mitterrand appeared to have made impressive new gains. Indeed, with 25.8% of the first-round ballots, he had captured more French voters than any Socialist since the end of World...
Shocked by the defections, party leaders set out to lure back workers who had apparently recoiled from the way the Communists had torpedoed Mitterrand's 1978 attempt at a Socialist-Communist alliance. Even in this election, Marchais had appeared to direct the Communists' first-round campaign as much against Mitterrand-as "an obstacle to change"-as against Giscard. According to some analysts, the Communists are now supporting Mitterrand in the hope of ultimately sinking...