Word: gaullismes
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...having trouble controlling both his weight and his smoking, did his best to cast the results in a positive light. At a Cabinet meeting three days after the election, he insisted that the voters had shown "confidence in the great political movement born out of Gaullism." In fact, the Gaullists had run a largely negative campaign aimed at the fear many French voters have about the left and "chaos." Even then, they barely edged the left in the popular vote, but gained seats in gerrymandered districts. Said the conservative Le Figaro: "The large parliamentary majority does not accurately translate...
...shot indeed. Last week's preliminary vote confirmed the judgment of the polls that Gaullism was in serious trouble. The Gaullists wound up with only 38% of the first-round vote, compared with 46% for the united left.* Though the Gaullists could still emerge from the second round with a majority, it was also possible that they would be forced into a coalition with the centrists, led by Rouen Mayor Jean Lecanuet and Publisher Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, who polled 12.4% last week. Less likely would be the emergence of the first Socialist-Communist majority in France since...
...than expected. Shopping picked up in the fashionable boutiques along Paris' Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, ending a slump that had begun with the onset of the campaign two months ago. The strident warnings from the tough-minded Communist leader, Georges Marchais, that "strikes will multiply" if Gaullism continued seemed particularly ill-timed. A walkout of civilian air controllers had snarled air traffic all over France, and was at least partly responsible for the mid-air collision of two Spanish airliners over Nantes last week. One plane crashed, killing all 68 aboard...
With a relatively poor first-round showing, the centrist "reform movement" fell short of establishing itself as a credible non-leftist alternative to Gaullism. Its leaders decided to approach the second round on different tacks. Bargaining for a voice in any new Gaullist government, Lecanuet agreed to withdraw his candidates in districts where they might pull votes away from a Gaullist and thus help to throw the election to a leftist. Servan-Schreiber, hoping that the Gaullists would lose their majority and thus be forced to turn to him and his allies for help, urged centrist candidates to stay...
There are a number of reasons for the French voters' apparent disenchantment with Gaullism. Many seem to be weary of Pompidou's arrogant exercise of presidential power. French Political Analyst Raymond Aron, a conservative, refers to Pompidou's style as "haughty, verging on the authoritarian." The low profiles presented by Mitterrand and Marchais may offer a welcome contrast. Moreover, a series of scandals involving Gaullist politicians has diminished the standing of Pompidou's party...