French spurn Left in local elections

Press, 29 March 1982, Page 8

French spurn Left in local elections

NZPA-Reuter Paris Conservative opposition forces won control of two more French provincial councils at the week-end in another setback for the socialist President Francois Mitterrand. The Right now holds 58 councils up from 51 three years ago. The Left controls 37 councils, presidencies, seven less than it had after the 1979 elections. The council presidents will become the main administrators of their regions under Mr Mitterrand's decentralisation programme that gives greater power over local affairs to the councils. Two rounds of voting on March 14 and 21 for 2029 seats on the councils pro-

duced a clear victory for the Right and a setback for Mr Mitterrand’s 10-month-old Leftist Government. French voters directly elect the council delegates who in turn cast ballots for the presidencies of their bodies. Delegates in all but two of the 95 councils elected presidents last week. The election in the Isere and Charente councils had been postponed until Saturday because of a lack of quorum in both councils on Wednesday. The president of the French National Assembly (Mr Louis Mermaz), a socialist, was re-elected president of the Isere council in Saturday’s voting. French politicians can serve in national

and local posts simultaneously. The presidency of the Charente council was won by a Conservative, Pierre-Remy Houssin. a member of' the neo-Gaullist Rally for the Republic led by the Mayor of Paris (Mr Jacques Chirac). The Union for French Democracy of the former conservative President, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, holds the most council presidencies, 32., The R.P.R. has 17 presidencies, while nine more offices were won by other Rightist candidates. For the Left, the socialists won 28 presidencies, the Communists three, while other Leftist candidates took six of the offices.