Word: mitterrand
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...France, the race for the presidency settled down to a bitter struggle between Socialist Francois Mitterrand, the candidate of the left, and Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the candidate of the right and center. No matter who wins, the election could mark the end of Gaullism. The voters' decision could also upset the internal stability that had given France much of the strength it had used so effectively within the European Community for a generation...
...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 the right, and François Mitterrand, 57, leading a Popular Front of leftists that includes the Communist Party. As campaigning began for the final round of voting this Sunday, the two candidates are locked in frantic efforts to out-De Gaulle each other; three weeks ago, both were rapping the general's party...
...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...
...both candidates postured in similar quasi-Gaullist roles, Frenchmen were left to ponder the very real differences between them: Mitterrand, the solid, earnest leader committed to social reform but allied with the lockstep Communist Party, and Giscard, the cool, successful administrator concerned with growth but seeming at times too far removed from human needs. Said one Gaullist Deputy: "My heart says Mitterrand. My mind says Giscard...