Word: mitterrand
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...aloof President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing were enough. Twenty-three years of government by the same center-right majority had proved too much. As if they had been dared once too often to take the risk, French voters this week chose Socialist Leader François Mitterrand, 64, an unflappable veteran politician whom many thought a perennial loser, as the fourth President of the Fifth Republic. They thus embarked on the country's boldest venture toward the left since 1936, setting the stage for a risky economic transformation...
...bitter defeat for Giscard, who bowed out after 29 years in government, including nine years as Finance Minister, then seven as President. Within a half-hour of the first computer projections showing that Mitterrand had won, Giscard conceded. The margin of victory was larger than had been predicted: 51.7% for Mitterrand, vs. 48.3% for Giscard...
...contrast, Mitterrand's position appeared to be reinforced by the Communist Party's decision to throw its 4.5 million supporters his way. That move was evidently prompted by the stunning Communist losses in the first round. The party dropped from 20.6% to 15.3% of the vote-its worst performance since...
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...
Whatever the reasons behind the Communists' maneuver, their formal support may prove crucial to Mitterrand in what promises to be one of the closest elections in French history. Though Marchais has continued to demand that Mitterrand accept Communist ministers in his prospective Socialist government, Mitterrand has cannily sidestepped the issue to avoid alarming moderate voters. Ridiculing Mitterrand's ambiguous stance last week, Giscard asked, "Why doesn't he answer Marchais directly when the latter asks for his share of government ministers? The reason: Mitterrand wants the votes of Communists and anti-Communists at the same time:" Giscard...