SWING TO LEFT

Evening Star, Issue 25472, 1 May 1945, Page 6

SWING TO LEFT

FRENCH MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright

'(Rec. 11.50 a.m.) LONDON, April 30. A Paris message says the municipal elections, in which French women voted for the first time in history, passed off without incident. Women represented 00 per cent, of 23.000.000 electors who were called on to choose 600.000 municipal councillors for 30.000 communes throughout France. A landslide to the " left " in the French elections extended to_ many of ! the big provincial industrial cities, says the British United Press ■ Paris' correspondent .Joint Communist-Socialist tickets won crushing majorities in Marseilles and Bordeaux. The industrial suburbs of Paris, constituting the traditional " red belt," voted solidly Communist. The moderates and conservatives polled best in Western France, which is traditionally right wing. Reuter's Paris correspondent says General de Gaulle's political advisers are apparently surprised by the swing to the left. It is generally assumed that there will be some modification of the present Government's composition, with the Communists no doubt demanding larger representation. On the other hand, it is too early to say that the political complexion of France as a whole will be Communist, as the radicals may be more successful in the agricultural areas.