Word: mitterrand
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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President Francois Mitterrand had tried at first to remain above the parliamentary election battle. The 71-year-old Socialist, after all, had won re-election handily only five weeks earlier largely by promising to bring a measure of consensus to a confrontational style of politics. Last week, though, as a desultory legislative campaign suddenly turned into the traditionally bitter left-right duel, Mitterrand decided it was time to intervene on behalf of the embattled left. "I ask Frenchwomen and Frenchmen to confirm the vote they delivered in the second round of the presidential election last May 8," he declared...
...Mitterrand's last-minute presidential plunge into the campaign reflected real Socialist fears that the French electorate, apparently in an unpredictable mood, was capable of anything -- including the return of a conservative majority. The Socialists, who initially expected a landslide victory on the strength of Mitterrand's electoral momentum, faltered in the first round of balloting on June 5. The party won only 37.5% of the vote, compared with 40.5% for the conservative alliance comprising the neo-Gaullist Rassemblement pour la Republique and the center-right Union pour la Democratie Francaise. The Communists, written off after their 6.8% score...
...unequaled in the history of France's Fifth Republic. Clearly, the electorate was weary of politics after three trips to the polls in six weeks and almost a year of campaign maneuvering. In the presidential balloting, the voters had thoroughly surprised the pollsters, pundits and politicians. Few had expected Mitterrand's solid 54%-to-46% victory over Chirac, who resigned as Premier following his presidential defeat...
...initial trip abroad as First Lady, Raisa jokingly said to Danielle Mitterrand, wife of the French President, "Give me some advice. I'm a beginner at this job." She learned fast, and quickly became a hit in the West. In Washington, accompanied by Van Cliburn on the piano, she and her husband made White House guests smile by leading the Soviet delegation in a rendition of a sentimental Russian favorite, Moscow Nights...
Beyond Kabul, there are signs that Gorbachev wants to win friends and influence governments. But Moscow' s goal is still to stymie the U. S. -- A snap election in Denmark raises the question of whether NATO' s members can have a pick- and- choose defense. -- In France a victorious Mitterrand names a Socialist Cabinet. -- Kim Philby, British traitor and master spy, is dead...