Word: mitterrand
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...first time since the short-lived Popular Front government of Leon Blum in 1936, a radical left-wing coalition seriously threatens to win a parliamentary majority in France. Once again the coalition is headed by a Socialist, Francois Mitterrand, but if it wins this time the Communist Party will play a major role in running things. Next month no fewer than 3,140 candidates will be contesting 490 seats in the National Assembly in what may prove to be the most important and problematic French election since World War II. Despite the ruling Gaullist party's 15-year record...
...nationwide surveys-published by the middle-of-the-road Paris newspapers Le Figaro (which gives the leftists 46% to the Gaullists' 37%) and L' Aurore (47% to 35%)-have shocked the complacent Gaullists and their supporters into something close to panic. Taking seriously the pledge of Socialist Mitterrand (see box page 27) that a leftist victory in France would culminate in "the suppression of capitalism," businessmen have stepped up their efforts to smuggle funds to havens in Switzerland (TIME, Feb. 19). Meanwhile, Pompidou, who as President is theoretically above party conflicts, has abandoned any pretense of neutrality...
Specter. The Socialists scoff at charges that they would become "hostages" to a Soviet-dominated Communist Party. The Communists, in turn, have displayed a modicum of independence from Moscow in recent years, and many nonleftist voters are no longer scared by the thought of Soviet domination. Mitterrand has not repeated an early pledge that his Socialists were committed to an "indestructible" five-year union with the Communists that would prevent any government from ruling France without Communist participation. Instead he stresses that the Socialists would wield a majority over the Communists in the Assembly...
...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...
...game of tit for tat continued right up to the last day, when Brandt held a one-hour meeting with Fellow Socialist Francois Mitterrand, Pompidou's arch rival in the current election campaign. After all, had not Pompidou seen fit to meet with Rainer Barzel, Brandt's political opponent, during his visit to the Munich Olympiad? Besides, as one Brandt aide volunteered: "We don't really believe that Mitterrand's coalition will beat the Gaullists, but in France anything can happen...