Evening star., 1951-03-07
By Creston B. Mullins


ERENCH. politics are always interest
i ing, frequently incomprehensible and
sometimes dangerous. The present crisis
in Frances government has all those ele-
ments, plus a liberal dash of fantasy and
political deception.
A week ago, Rene Pleven and his cabi-,
net resigned in the face of what ap-
peared to be certain defeat for their
compromise on the issue of electoral re-
form. Since then, two former Premiers,
Georges Bidault of the Catholic Popular
Republican Movement (MRP) and Henri
Queuille of the Radical Socialists-tried
to form a government and failed. Yes
terday, Guy Mollet, a Socialist new
conner, failed of confirmation by Is
votes, and today Mr.. Queuille again was
asked to form cabinet.
The problem has been how to change
the electoral laws SO as to prevent the
Communists from winning the largest
number of seats in the National Assem-
bly,, lower house of Parliament, which
must be elected this year. For each
party that question becomes how to
change the electoral laws without dam
aging its own chances, and since the
National Assembly has Is recognized
parties, the viewpoints conflict.
Behind all the maneuvering is a seri-
Gus effort to correct a long standing
defect in the French political system.
and to inject some kind of stability into
French politics while eliminating the
need for constant coalition rule.
In prewar France, members of the
lower house were chosen by majority
al, nj
divisions of French departments conf
parable to our congressional districts
elected deputy. If candidate failed
to get clear majority on the first Sun
DAY OF voting, as usually happened, a
runof was held the following Sunday,
with the top two or three competing.
This was known as the double ballot.
In the runoff. bigger parties frequently
found themselves being ganged up on by
numerous smaller parties which, despite
sectional differences, agreed on major
issues And If the bigger party were
defeated in the circonscription, the votes
it polled there were entirely lost
After liberation, with the Communists
the largest single party although not a
majority. France wrote a new constitu-
ton. 1t abandoned the old double ballot,
majority election system, and instituted
proportional representation, with a
single ballot (no runoff) and election of
party lists by departments rather than
circonscriptions.
"P. r. R."-proportional representation
gives each party which can poll a
certain minimum vote a number of
seats in the Assembly proportionate to
the vote it gets in each department. If
the vote of any party is small in several
circonscriptions, it is not lost, but is
added to larger votes in Others The
result is that a party which, under the
prewar system. might not have been
able to elect a single deputy. from a
certain department. might now make a
respectable showing in the Assembly.
P. r. favors large minority parties,
spread so thin over France that they
would have lost out completely in many
circonscriptions. In the case of the Com
munists. it made possible the pooling Of
small rural votes with the larger city
votes to give them a greater relative
strength than they would otherwise have
had.
Frances last election was in Novem-
ber, 1916. Another election is manda-
tory within five years-that is, by next
November. With the Communists likely
to win another large bloc in the Assem-
bly,, though smaller than the present
one. the anti-Communist parties realized
the need to remove election features
which favored the Reds.
Despite this basic agreement on the OBJ
jective, Frances Communists have
lnl in fhr.oo f0tf,. :,
tionS, out of fear for their own fate
under new system.
On the extreme right are the Radical
Socialists of Edouard Herriot. They are
not too strong as a party, but are sup
ported by small farmers and business
men, who still poll a good vote in
france. They want the prewar system
OF direct mapority election in the cir
conscriptions.'
The fast-failing Popular Republican
Movement (MRP) of Georges Bidault
and Maurice Schumann sees itself III
grave danger. While it wants to cut
down the troublesome Communists, it
relies on P. R. to preserve place for it's
representatives in the Assembly. MRp
is dead set against any double ballot, in
which antl-clerical parties could gang up
oiA 1o' IL WOulO StcIl pdCk a. SIrd1GQE
plurality vote, as is used in the United
States.
The Socialists are inclined to favor a
return to the system of direct majority
election on double ballot. But they are
not strong in their feelings. and they
supported Mr.. Pleven's compromise.
That compromise was return to the
prewar double ballot, as desired by the
Radical Socialists and Socialists, but
with protection for the MRP so that it
could not become the victim of anti
clerical fusions
Elections would be held on successive
Sundays. The voting would be by cir
conscriptions, not departments. A party
which gained majority the first Sunday
would be declared elected. Any fusion
of parties would have to be announced
before the first balloting, and while
single party could win with more than
50 per cent Of the VOTE fusion candi-
date would have to have more than so
per cent.
In case no single party won majority,