Word: gaullist
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...accused officers to leave France, and was planning to move a second officer. But the cover was blown on the affair by French presidential-election politics, say officials in both countries. Once a sure bet to succeed Socialist President Francois Mitterrand in the April 23 election, Gaullist Prime Minister Edouard Balladur has recently seen his high poll ratings nose-dive. His campaign was badly damaged by revelations that Pasqua, a Balladur supporter, authorized an illegal wiretap last December on the father-in-law of a judge investigating an illegal campaign-funding scheme in Pasqua's district west of Paris...
That would be a moral victory at best, since political analysts are virtually unanimous in predicting an easy win for Gaullist Prime Minister Edouard Balladur. Jospin's task thus will be to heal, as best he can, the rifts in his divided party and put in a credible performance against Balladur. If he fails on either count--and especially if he is eliminated in the first round on April 23--the party that swept Francois Mitterrand into the Elysee in 1981 and dominated French politics for the better part of a decade could split apart or collapse like an overripe...
...desk to the conspicuously placed photos of his grandchildren, was calculated to project the image of a national father figure. Though there was little suspense--his intentions had long been clear--Balladur's nationally televised address was the biggest political event of the new year. It marked the Gaullist Prime Minister's official entry into a presidential race that could make him the successor to Socialist Francois Mitterrand next May. Speaking from his gilded office, Balladur, 65, promised to run a ``positive, serene and optimistic'' campaign...
Serene? Not if Jacques Chirac can help it. The Paris mayor and former Prime Minister is seething over what he calls Balladur's ``betrayal.'' Two years ago, with the conservatives poised to win a majority in legislative elections, Chirac and Balladur cut a deal: Chirac, then leader of the Gaullist Rally for the Republic (R.P.R.) party, would put Balladur into the Prime Minister's job; Balladur, in turn, would defer to Chirac as the Gaullists' ``natural'' candidate in the 1995 presidential election...
...presidency. One by one, conservative leaders, including 25 of 29 current Cabinet members, deserted Chirac for Balladur. The defections need not be fatal for Chirac: he still claims the support of 240 of the R.P.R.'s 350 Senators and Deputies and appears to have the majority of the Gaullist rank and file on his side. But with Balladur enjoying far broader support from the center, the Prime Minister's 2-to-1 lead in the polls is formidable...