Word: gaullists
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...hallmarks of Gaullist politics as practiced by the late general was the building of an alliance of France's left and right under a national banner of pride and grandeur. For 16 years, that tactic kept the U.D.R. (Union of Democrats for the Fifth Republic) Party of Charles de Gaulle in power. But now that the U.D.R. is in disarray after the elimination of Gaullist Jacques Chaban-Delmas in last week's first round of balloting for the presidency, the nation has fallen back into its traditional polarities, with Finance Minister Valery Giscard d'Estaing, 48, representing...
...have sound reasons for seeking the spoils of Gaullism. It is the Gaullist 15.1% of the vote that Chaban collected that holds the balance of power between Giscard's first-round 32.6% and Mitterrand's 43.2%. For the first time in the campaign, French opinion polls differed last week over the favorite. One showed Giscard edging ahead by 51% to 49%; another found Mitterrand leading by the same margin...
Because Finance Minister Giscard is identified nearly everywhere as the author of the quintessentially Gaullist policy of economic independence from the U.S. or any other country, he seemed the inevitable second-round beneficiary of almost all of the Chaban vote. Mitterrand, however, was not about to let Gaullists forget that he had something to offer them too. "There exist many Frenchmen who identify themselves with the history of Gaullism, but not with the right of big business," he declared. He reminded Gaullists that Giscard was partly responsible for the general's forced retirement in 1969 when Giscard urged...
...making decisions." When the Soviet ambassador called on Giscard (ostensibly to discuss bilateral economic issues), the Finance Minister called in news photographers and later pointedly declared that he intended to be the "President of all the French." It was an obvious bid for leftist as well as Gaullist support. The usually compliant French Communist Party protested that Moscow was interfering in the internal politics of France...
...while his Communist allies -widely distrusted by the French middle class-tried to keep from being heard at all. For the first time in years, the Socialists and the Communists did not march in the May Day parade in Paris. Giscard, ignoring the fact that he has served in Gaullist cabinets for nine years, argued that "France needs a young face in all fields, including politics. France will have a new generation -the postwar generation-and with it, we will enter the new era that awaits us." Though most Frenchmen seemed to agree, it remained to be seen whether they...