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Article: Cruel March. (March 1992 French elections)
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- April 27, 1992
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1992 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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MARCH was the cruelest month for the French Socialist Party (PS). "Disaster," and "Bitter Voters Reject PS," said the newspapers, with the characteristic delicacy of French headline-writing, as the PS obtained less than 20 per cent of the vote for the first time since 1971. What these elections showed is that you can change your stripes as much as you want--the PS has even given the free market a lukewarm endorsement--but you will still be judged by your works, and the French voters' evaluation of a decade of Socialist management was harsh indeed.
Francois Mitterrand, the only two-term president in the history of the Fifth Republic, had designated the elections ...