EVE OF THE ELECTIONS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18706, 12 May 1924, Page 9

EVE OF THE ELECTIONS

POLLING DAY- IN' FRANCE UNINTERESTING CAMPAIGN. LITTLE•, CHANGE EXPECTED. NO : DEFINITE DOCTRINES. COST-OF-LIVING FACTOR. By Telegraph-—. Association— . - / (Received 6-5 p.m.) i ; ■■: > A. and N.Z. v" '' ' LONDOK. May 10. The Paris correspondent of the Dfiily Telegraph states that polling day in France will be on Sunday, when 584 deputies will be 'elected to the Chamber. The comparatively uninteresting character of the electoral campaign has, he says, been due tc the fact that none of . the parties have definite doctrines, and no clear issues have been put to the electee. "J■■ ;:• -- /■ ■■■ '•> ■'■; V -." V.".''« This uninspiring indqfiniteness may ' result in the strengthening of the Extreme i Right on the one hand, and the Com- I munists on the other, producing a movement toward extremes which ■ may be | stimulated by impatience with the pre- :i sent -Government on the ground that it "\ has not coped with the problem • of the j high cost of living. >.l j Nevertheless the general aspect" of ■ the j Chamber, says the correspondent, may j not be fundamentally modified, beyond a I slight shifting to the Left. . 'i Writing under date of March 21, the ; Paris correspondent of the Manchester « Guardian said:—Sunday, May 11—Joan J of Arc's Dayhas been chosen as gen- j eral election day at 'a - Ministerial Council | held to-day at the Elysee. That.will be , a week • after the German elections, the . results of which will be well in the French elector's mind when he goes to the poll. There is no doubt that this has r.ot been forgotten in choosing the latest date that avoids any straining of! the Constitution,' and d the results of the' German elections are what everyone • expects them to be, no doubt they.will be made the occasion for a great patriotic rally in France. • ~.... The elections will take place under the ' curious electoral system, miscalled Proportional Representation, that brought v the National bloc into power four years ago. ...That. system puts a heavy premium on blocs or party % coalitions,, and ' the National bloc, then the ,only one in the country, carried everything before it four years ago, though it had an actual minority of the votes cast. Had the parties of the Left succeeded in forming a bloc, or -at. any rate a cartel (or ; voting list), of their own, there would be no doubt of their sweeping the country on May 11, despite M. Poincare's surprising recovery of prestige. But the bloc of the Left is 'as yet very imperfect. ' In the south as a whole it has been brought into being; in the Gironde it has failed, though that matters little, as the Gironde is Radical to the bone in the North it has generally been a failure. ■ Whatever else happens, it is fairly certain that both extreme wings of French politics will gam—the Communists heavily »nd the Monarchist or Fascist Right to a less extent. .- : - ,:>■.■• ■ . .' *■ :' '■, . . ' '