LANDSLIDE IN FRANCE

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28758, 2 December 1958, Page 15

LANDSLIDE IN FRANCE

Huge De Gaulle Victory (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9.50 pan.) PARIS, December 1. General Charles de Gaulle, at 68, is today undisputed master of France after a landslide victory in yesterday’s elections for the new Assembly. The Communists, formerly the largest single party, were all but annihilated. The Union for the New Republic (U.N.R.), his most fervent partisans, with 188 of the 465 seats for Metropolitan France, is the largest single political group in the new House. It will undoubtedly be supported by most of the 71 deputies from Algeria and Sahara, from where final results are still coming in. Now the spotlight turns on who is to be France’s next Premier. General de Gaulle will undoubtedly be elected President of the Republic on December 21.

The Presidency, under the new constitution of the Fifth Republic, now carries great power both in the conduct of foreign policy and in the nomination of the Government and choice of Prime Minister. » . . The overwhelming triumph of the U.N.R. makes it clear that the next Premier will come from its ranks, but whether the choice will fall on its influential and colourful leader, Mr Jacques Soustelle, will not be known until after the Presidential election. Mr Soustelle is a natural selection. War-time head of the Free French secret service, and a former Governor-General of Algeria, he channelled the revolt there last May in General de Gaulle’s favour—but he has the drawback of being unpopular with the left. Two other de Gaullist party leaders also tipped for the premiership are Mr Michael Debre, 44-year-old Minister of Justice, who helped to shape the constitution of the Fifth Republic, and the 38-year-old textile leader, Mr Leon Delebecque. widely known for his Committee of . Public Safety activities in Algeria. But General de Gaulle is believed to be anxious to give the next government a character of national union.

He may offer the Premiership to Senator Edmpnd Michelet who is known for his sympathies with the Socialists, even though he is a de Gaullist. The leaders of the U.N.R. Party wiU make every effort to bring the Socialists into the next Cabinet for although they have only 40 seats in the new Assembly they maintained their polling aggregate.