Poher Standing

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31987, 14 May 1969, Page 17

Poher Standing

(N.Z.P .A.-Reuter—Copyright)

PARIS, May 13. Mr Georges Pompidou and Mr Alain Poher emerge as the only serious contenders as the midnight nomination deadline approaches for French Presidential candidates. Mr Poher, the 60-year-old Senator—virtually unknown until be stepped in as interim President yesterday announced that he would stand for election.

He did so in the knowledge that public opinion polls give him a good chance of beating Mr Pompidou, who in the last poll enjoyed only a razor slim, 1 per cent lead if the election goes to the decisive second round. This would be necessary if no candidate secures an absolute majority on the first ballot. When Mr Poher announced that he would be standing for the election, he also affirmed be would continue in office as interim President

In the face of a mid-April announcement he made to the contrary in Lyons, this brought a stinging reaction from his riyal, Mr Pompidou. “I find it rather strange

that, having announced he would abandon the interim he should not do so. I am in the habit of doing what I say,” he told a reporter. Asked if he thought Mr Poher’s position as interim President gave him an advantage in the race, he replied: “If he has chosen this solution, I think it is because he sees an advantage in it.” But at the. same time, Mr Poher’s candidacy has won support from several leading French figures. From Mr Francois Mitterand, the Left-wing runner-up to General de Gaulle in the 1965 election came conditional approval. “I can say . . . that democracy stands a greater chance with Mr Poher,” he said in a ■ radio interview. But, he added, Mr Poher would have to dissolve Parliament and break with the Gaullists. The Socialist candidate, Mr Gaston Deferre, told an interviewer that Mr Poher might “contribute to the de- ■ feat of Mr Pompidou, which is, I think, a very desirable and logical thing.” The extreme Right-wing alliance RepubUcaine Party supported him because “he ; contributed to ... de Gaulle’s departure by campaigning against him in last month’s referendum.”