French Voters deal severe blow to Mitterrand Govt

Press, 16 March 1982, Page 9

French Voters deal severe blow to Mitterrand Govt

NZPA-Reuter .•>. i Paris French voters have swims firmly to the Right irt local elections less than a. veai after the Socialists swipt t'i power in presidential ant parliamentary polls, j Results from the 1 firs round of voting at the week end in some 2000 districts d 5 cantons showed ' Left-iyinp candidates taking only 471 per cent of the poll while thfei Right and Centre-Right hail 51.5. ' ’ The figures, even if con-1 firmed in the second round next week-end. cannot, affecf the firm grip on power enJ jojed by the Socialists if Parliament where they haw a virtually unassailabf maprity for the next fof years. I Bit coming only six wed afb; the Right had won f<r palumentary by-electiffi, the insults were interprejd by tfnch political commptatorsas a severe blowjto the Goernment and Preident Ytncois Mitterrand The-, of Paris Mr Jacques Vhirac). a fortier Prime Mister and. as Bad of the nvGaullist Rf.R. grouping, figctive leadr of the Opposite said thecan-. tonal poll saved disillusion among . man. people/ who voted Left latyear. / But Jean Pieren, deputy

lejder of the Socialist Party, ad the Government would dntinue with its social-re-, jrm programme which had deluded nationalisation of host banks and some major ndustries and the shortening pf the working week. He and the Socialist first Lionel Jospin. ; argued'''that the voting,' in which Socialist candidates took just oyer. 3ft per cent of the poll, showed that their party had consolidated its position as the strongest in France. ’ ’ It was their best performance in cantonal. elections since the 19305, and their score was. more than two. per cent higher than the vote for Mr Mitterrand in the first round of last year’s presidential poll. ’ ' But the Communists, who have four Ministers jn the Cabinet, took only 16,5 per cent against almost 23 per cent in the last cantonal'ln 1978. although they improved slightly on their performance in the 1981 presidential vote.

An early victor with well over half the poll in the first round was the former President, V a l er y Giscard d'Estaing, who. at 56, is said by aides to be working towards a comeback from the bottom rung of the political ladder.

9ieformer- President e«ly topped the poll in his hfte distinct of Chamaiieres France. His aides sa he will stand in municipa due next year ait then for a National Asmblyseat in 1986. je Communist Party leir. Georges’ Marchais. the Canmunist Na tional Assnblj group leader. Ante Lajoinie. and the Soclist Party number two. Jea| fippereh. all agreed thathe vote was not a good perfmance by the Left. . "tlhave not got all our voterat and will have to makteure we do (in the seconround) next Sunday." Mr Aeren said. Buffir Marchais. also interview on television, rejectedtuggestions that the poll sired a steadv decline in his Lrty. Meathile. a junior Minister. Fscois Abadie, who belongs) the Left Radical Party red to the Socialists, said herould resign from the Gd’nment if policies were Mr /die. Secretary of State ftfourism. is one of severallders from the radical Left the Government. There v no immediate indicatipnhat others might follow- fexample.