Word: mitterrand
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...obvious that the left's early lead was fast shrinking to invisibility. Computers tallying the vote on television soon made it clear that the leftist upset was caused by an unexpectedly poor showing by the Socialists. Watching TV in a hotel in Burgundy, Socialist Leader François Mitterrand turned to an aide and asked, "Is that really all?" Shortly thereafter, Mitterrand appeared on television to concede that "we expected to do better...
That was an understatement. The Socialists originally had figured on winning more than 25% of the ballots, and Mitterrand had repeatedly proclaimed that his party would garner at least 7 million votes. Instead, his candidates captured only 22.6%, and the party fell a half-million votes short of its goal. The Communists fared no better than they had in past elections. Their share...
...Socialists characteristically attributed their shortfall not to Giscard, but to one another. Communist Party Boss Georges Marchais claimed that the left's score would have been higher had the Socialists agreed to Communist proposals for updating the left's Common Program, including a sweeping nationalization of industry. Mitterrand offered his own explanation for the poor showing: "The Communist Party, acting in its own partisan interests, had launched an unjust and inopportune polemical attack on the Socialists that broke the dynamism of the union of the left...
Nonetheless. Mitterrand showed no hesitation in making key concessions to the Communists, in the hope of salvaging a second-round victory. Marchais immediately moved to exploit the Socialists' weakness, exacting from Mitterrand a promise to allocate ministerial posts in proportion to the votes polled by each leftist party. In the event of a leftist victory, this would give the Communists half of the Cabinet seats. Mitterrand even agreed to consider Communists for the ministries of Interior, which controls the police. Defense and Foreign Affairs. These were all concessions that he had previously vowed to deny the Communists...
...exchange for Mitterrand's surrender. Marchais agreed to back better-placed Socialist candidates in the second round. Both men calculated that the combined left parties could still pick up a slim majority in the National Assembly, provided Communist voters could be commanded to back Socialist candidates; at the same time, wavering Socialist voters would be persuaded to vote for Communist candidates in districts where they were stronger than the Socialists...