FRENCH ELECTIONS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22866, 28 April 1936, Page 9

FRENCH ELECTIONS

CLOSE OF THE CAMPAIGN M. SARRAUT'S BROADCAST (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) PARIS, April 26. M. Sarraut, in a broadcast speech winding up the electoral campaign, did not refer to the foreign policy, which he had previously explained. He expressed the opinion that the tranquillity characterising the election campaign proved that the Government had eliminated mischief makers. He declared that the most important task of the next Government would be economic recovery, and to achieve this world-wide economic anarchy must be ended. He added that soon an international conference, differently organised from former failures, must undertake to suppress national and economic antagonisms, currency manipulations, and fraudulent dumping, to which Customs reprisals and quotas were the inevitable reply. VOTING STATIONS CROWDED PARIS, April 26. Dull, threatening weather kept voters indoors until the middle of the morning, when, in spite of the rain, they crowded the voting stations. Suffragettes established unofficial polling booths with cardboard hat boxes as ballot boxes, into which men as well as women dropped sham voting papers. THE EARLY INDICATIONS A SWING TO THE LEFT PARIS, April 27. (Received April 27, at 9 p.m.) As the result of numerous appeals to the electorate to vote owing to the seriousness of the international situation, there has been heavy polling everywhere. Jt is believed that the Croix dc Feu members were ordered to vote for Communists in some districts in order to reduce the Socialist-Radical representation, as it is believed that it would be easier to defeat a Communist than a Radical on the second ballot on May •i, which will be essential where the Deputies did not secure an absolute majority yesterday, although a mere majority is sufficient i.-i the second ballot. A second ballot will be necessary in 65 per cent, of the constituencies owing to the number of candidates and vote splitting. The results at midnight indicated a swing to the Left, which will be emphasised in the second ballot when the Popular Front parties pool their votes. The Communists have strengthened their position in Paris and the suburbs, and in mining areas and seaports. Those elected so far include M. Flandin and the following Ministers:—M. Mandel (Telegraphs), M. Delbo3 (Justice), M. Bonnet (Commerce), M. Besse (Pensions), M. Frossard (Labour) and M. Deat (Air), and M. Daladier (a former Premier) and M. Frot (a former Minister for the Interior). M. Herriot was surprisingly not elected for Lyons, of which he has been Mayor for a lengthy period, but he is well placed for the second ballot. The Socialist leader, M. Blum, succeeded at the first ballot. A WEEK OF BARGAINING LONDON, April 27. (Received April 27, at 11.55 p.m.) France now enters a delicate week of bargaining preceding the final ballot, in which much negotiation that cannot be forecast will be carried on with regard to which candidates shall stand down. The fight, broadly speaking, is between the Conservative-Nationalist Right, which is pro-Italian, and the Popular Front, a' combination of Left parties— Radicals, Socialists and Communists—tending to favour the British attitude regarding sanctions towards Italy. External politics, however, are not the principal feature of the campaign. It is noteworthy that M. Rcynaud, protagonist of devaluation, did not succeed in the first ballot. It is generally agreed that the Communists' success and the extraordinary number of seats left to the second ballot were features of the first results. The quietness of the election was due largely to the Rhineland coup, which, if it did not create national unity, at any rate tended to modify party antagonisms, when all united in the desire to defend national interests. GAINS BY COMMUNISTS PARIS, April 27. (Received April 27, at 10 p.m.) While the main trend of the election cannot be decided before the second ballot the Communists have made striking gains. It is expected that they will have at least 40 seats in the new Chamber compared with 20 before. The Communist leader, M. Thorez, was elected for a Paris suburb with a majority of 19,000. There are other instances of Communists trebling and quadrupling their votes, largely at the expense of Socialists and Radical Socialists. It is reported that M. Herriot will not contest the second ballot.