Latest State Of Parties

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27859, 6 January 1956, Page 9

Latest State Of Parties

The latest state of parties in the French election, based on corrected figures for seats in France’s overseas territories is:— Seats Communists .. .. 148 Socialists .. .. 97 Near Radicals . . .. 7 Orthodox Radicals .. .. 49 Dissident Radicals .. 21 Popular Republicans .. 71 Conservatives ... .. 96 Social Republicans .. 22 Poujadists .. .. 51 Extreme Right - - .. 3 Others (mostly overseas) .. 22 Total .. .. ..587

"If, on the other hand, the parties stick to their guns there can be no stable government and the new Assembly will cut an even less imposing figure than its predecessor. “Either way the anti-Parliamentary forces will claim to be justified. The way out of the dilemma is hard.” The “Manchester Guardian" says that so far as the French electorate has changed its allegiances, it has changed them largely under the spur of discontent with things as they are. “Poujadism, the new portent of this election, is as pure an expression of discontent as French politics has had since the thirties

“No Programme” “Poujadism has. no programme. Its leader is a young demagogue—clever, energetic, raucous and scarcely conceivable as a leader for a country like France. The movement is driven by a spirit of grievance and negation. The grievances are often real enough. “They are those of the small shopkeepers, artisans, and farmers, who—especially in poorer Central and Southern regions—have a hard time making ends meet. Their businesses are often uneconomic now that continuous inflation no longer buoys them up. “The tax system exasperates them, not always unjustly. Hence this amorphous movement of protest. “ ‘Turn the Rascals Out’ was the Poujadist slogan, noise and violence their method. They have done very well. “Poujadism has implications wider than its present base. It is loudly but vaguely hostile to law, government and Parliament as they are now constituted—all in the name of some undefined decency. “Dissolution Unlikely’’

“There is talk of another dissolution, but the Parliamentary parties could scarcely risk it unless Poujadism had gone into decline. e “They would also have to revise the electoral law. which surprised the old. governing majority by proving to be as dangerous as it is unpopular. “Meanwhile, one must hope that the Republican Government, although hemmed in and doomed to compromise, will do enough positive good work to win some elbow room next time.”

The "News Chronicle” says that the election merely proved that there can be no hope of an imminent change in politics or constitution of the Republic. f "There seems no prospect of a stable government, still less of a government enjoying the two-thirds majority needed for such a change. The country has so voted as to prevent what it most requires. “It is important to realise that the new Communist gains in the Assembly >do not represent increased Communist strength in Metropolitan France, where the vote has not changed significantly. It is simply that they now received the fair representation previously denied them. “The picture is depressing to all who love France. It is a picture that shows bitterness and cynicism, the failure of any Centre Party fully to capture the faith of workers, .and the positive disillusionment expressed through a heavy poll. "Just at the moment when such problems as Algeria cry aloud for settlement, an unstable and precarious coalition seems the best that can be hoped for ”

Canny Golfen.—More than 1000 amateur golfers today decided to boycott Glasgow’s eight municipal golf courses in protest against the raising of the cost of a round on an 18-hole course from a shilling to two shillings. —Glasgow, January 5.