Victorious De Gaulle Plans Seven Years

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30939, 21 December 1965, Page 21

Victorious De Gaulle Plans Seven Years

(N.Z.P.A. Reuter—Copyright) PARIS, Dec. 20. General Charles de Gaulle, after clinching a renewed Presidential mandate, today began to map out the next seven years of fifth Republic.

In yesterday’s eleclinn ran nflF hp train pd t!on run Ort, ne gainea assto 45 per cent vote advantage over the Left-wing candidate, Mr Francois MitterTtni- with 1R rwr rand. But with lo per cent of the electorate abstaining, his backing fell short of half the total voting populace nf Vranco oi r rance. vir Mitterrand aced 49, who conceded defeat just 80 minutes after vote-counting started, served notice on the 75-year-old President that his second seven-year term would bring a harder fight for Parliamentary control. Refusing to congratulate General de Gaulle on a result he said went against the interests of France, Mr Mitterrand warned that the 1967 General Elections would be “the decisive encounter

which will save the Republic from the adventure into which a diminished Gaullism will plunge it.” The Left-wing candidate scored heavily in urban distncts which are Communist <> r working class—or both. In o th er areas of the country he trailed, g< Per Cent Poll m a total registration of 28,914,851, nearly 84 per cent of voters cast ballots, close the set on December sin the first election. Gaullist circles today exPressed admitted t * iat they had hoped for a more sweeping victory. By winning yesterday’s election, General de Gaulle became France’s first President elected by popular vote since 1848. In foreign affairs General de Gaulle’s first task will be trying to untangle the Common Market crisis over fin-

ancing a common agricultural policy between the six member nations. He is expected to continue his line on Vietnam. N.A.T.0., relations with Communist countries and opposition to German control over nuclear weapons. Domestic Policy On the home front he will probably make changes in domestic policy to meet the harsher criticisms voiced during the election campaign. Soon after he begins his new term of office on January 8, he is expected to announce some Government changes though he is likely to retain the Prime Minister, Mr Georges Pompidou, the Foreign Minister, Mr Maurice Couve de Murville, and the Agriculture Minister, Mr Edgar Pisani. He is believed to be making an effort to arrange a meeting with President Johnson in Europe early in the New Year. Overseas Support

General de Gaulle won a far higher percentage of the poll in French overseas departments and territories than his 55 per cent in metropolitan France, A.A.P.-Reuter reported. His share of the total votes of five territories—the West Indian islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe, the Wallis and Futuna islands and New Caledonia in the Pacific, and French Somaliland in Northwest Africa—came to more than 86 per cent. In the Wallis and Futuna islands, the Left-wing candidate, Mr Francois Mitterrand, scored only a fraction of 1 per cent —14 votes against General de Gaulle’s 3422. French Somaliland gave General de Gaulle 95.5 per cent backing for another term.