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Article: Righter than thou: France's presidential election. (right wing candidates)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- November 12, 1994
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Economist Newspaper Ltd. 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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"I AM in favour of a single presidential candidate [of France's current conservative government] because I am all too well aware of what lost us the election in 1988." Thus Edouard Balladur, the Gaullist prime minister, on November 7th. Three days earlier Jacques Chirac, the Gaullist party's leader, had officially announced his candidacy for the presidential election due by next April, the first of the serious contenders to do so. Mr Chirac spiced his announcement with an offer to hold a referendum before France committed itself to European monetary union. His rating in the opinion polls promptly rose. The government now seems doomed to have at least two candidates, and ...