Word: mitterrand
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...Paris editor described France's fiercely contested presidential-election campaign, continued right down to a bitter end. At times, as last Sunday's election approached, the two contenders seemed more interested in hurling insults than in dealing with the issues. Socialist François Mitterrand, running with Communist backing, accused Finance Minister Valery Giscard d'Estaing of being the tool of "these princes, these dukes, these millionaires [who] have not had a new-idea in 15 years." The patrician Giscard in turn scourged his left-wing opponent for running "a violent and nasty campaign" and for trying...
...France's cold civil war seemed to heat up in its final days, that was because it was the closest race for President since Charles de Gaulle created the Fifth Republic in 1958. From the moment that Mitterrand and Giscard emerged as the leaders in the first-round election earlier this month, France's usually reliable opinion polls had the two candidates running almost dead even. At week's end one survey showed Giscard with a narrow 51% to 49% edge over Mitterrand in the decided votes, with 11% of the voters still undecided. The tightness...
...campaign laid bare deep divisions within French society-divisions that would surely trouble whomever the voters choose to succeed the late Georges Pompidou. A victory by Mitterrand would bring to power the first left-wing coalition government in France since Leon Blum's Popular Front in the turbulent late 1930s. A Mitterrand regime would also include the first Communists in any major Western European Cabinet since the cold war began-a fact that might legitimize the idea of Communists sharing power in other Western European countries, notably Italy...
That conflict was finally brought into sharp focus Friday night as the two candidates met in a Nixon-Kennedy-style TV debate. Obviously concerned about his aloof image, Giscard at one point snapped at his opponent, "You don't have a monopoly on the heart, M. Mitterrand. I am equally concerned about the social problems of France." The Finance Minister promised to give priority to alleviating the problems of the underprivileged in French society. But Mitterrand wanted to know why Giscard had not advanced such programs during his years in government. The Socialist vowed to pursue new policies which...
...past," charged Giscard. "I tried to talk of the future, but it is impossible to debate the future with you!" Replied Mitterrand: "Change in France is not to allow you to continue your antisocial programs." About 20 million Frenchmen watched the exchange, but the two were so evenly matched that neither seemed to have won a clear advantage...