FRENCH ELECTIONS.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 15978, 21 November 1919, Page 5

FRENCH ELECTIONS.

327 NEW MEN ELECTED (Reuter.) Received November 21, 9.45 a.m. PARIS, Nov. 18. Of 548 eleeteds, 327 are new men. This is the outstanding feature of the elections,, for it signifies not merely the transfer seats from Republican Parties to the Right, but a movement towards the Right Inside Republican Parties themselves. In France, Italy and Belgium the general elections now proceeding are the first held since 1914. Political parties in Prance observed during the war a truce, known as I’union sacree. In the French Chamber of Deputies befoy the war no less than eight political groups, each with a 'considerable following, were represented. The long truce and the ordeal of the war have obliterated many of the old party lines, and the present tendency is towards a coalescence of the Republican groups (Radicals and Radical Socialists) as against the party of the Right (Clericals and Conservatives), on the one hand, and the Socialists of the extreme Left on the other. Hitherto the large towns have been divided between the Conservative and Catholic parties and the Socialists, while the rural vote has been Republican. The new system of the scrutin de liste, which will mingle the electors of the town with those of the country, is expected to alter this situation, though to what degree only the final results of the elections will show. In Italy the dominating factors at the elections are the Fiume affair and the economic situation. The one has strengthened the Nationalist Party, -with a military clique at its head and D’Annunzio as its hero; the other has given power to a vigorous Socialist group with revolutionary tendencies. __ OVERWHELMING OP EXTREMISTS. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. Received November 21, 11.40 a.m. PARIS, Nov. 18. M. Clemenceau, commenting on the sweeping majority of the Nationalist Republican bloc, and the overwhelming of the Extreme Socialists owing to their frank advocacy'of Bolshevism, jocularly remarked: “How dull will be the Chamber -without an Opposition!” POUT OF THE SOCIALISTS. (Reuter.) Received November 21, 11 a.m. PARIS, November 18. The 543 members elected are divided as follows; Left Republicans, 117, gaining 51 and losing 17 seats; Radicals, 52, gaining 30 and losing 26; Radical Socialists, 71, gaining 9 and losing 75; Republican Socialists, 24, gaining 7 and losing 16; Unified Socialists, 54, gaining 7 and losing 50; Dissentient Socialists, 6, all gains; Progressive Republicans, 120, gaining 78 and losing 5; Liberal Actionists, 73, gaining 19 and losing 6; Conservatives, 31, gaining 12 and losing 12. BELGIAN ELECTIONS. GAINS FOR SOCIALISTS. (Times.) Received November 21, 11.40 a.m. BRUSSELS, Nov. 18. The elections passed off In almost uncanny calm. The Catholic majority •is disappearing and the Socialists have enormously gained at the expense of the Catholics and Liberals. It is forecasted that the new Chamber will consist of 79 Catholics, 38 Liberals, and 65 Socialists, the remaining four seats; being divided between the Front party and the Combatant party. ITALIAN ELECTIONS. (Times.) Received November 21, 11.40 a.m. ROME, Nov. 18. Little interest is being taken in the elections.