Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-12-25

date for any prize France may be
Offering. In this snowless, fogey
Christmas season. the prize is q
seat in the French Parliament. and
M. Lop is running as usual. Despite
his grandiose promise to solve-at
one fell swoop-the major French
problems Of interpretation of
humans. overproduction Of wine
and reconstruction, Lop has little
chance of election on January 2.
But then, most of his fellow candi-
dates are in similar fix.
In Nevers, the voters are throwing
sugar beets at the former Minister
Of Interior Francois Mitterand-
and hitting him. In La Rochelle,
they kidnapped a Radical Deputy
trying for reelection. and held him
prisoner for more than three hours.
In Montreuil, rioting broke out at
q recent electoral meeting and four
persons were hoSpitaliZed. In the
South. an independent Deputy was
attacked by his critics, his glasses
were broken and his nose bloodied.
Time for q chonee'
This violence is due to a strange
phenomenon. For once in their
lives, millions Of French find them
selves in agreement. From the mill
tant Communist to the followers Of
Pierre Poujade's neo-Fascist party
Of peasants and small shopkeepers,
the average Frenchman has had
enough Of this parliament and its
governmentS-seven Of them In 81
months. Time for q change" is
more than q slogan in France
today; it Is a deep and widespread
conviction from Brest to Nice, from
etrasbourg to Bordeaux.
But paradoxically. the chances Of
any real change are small. More
than 90 per cent Of today's deputies
are standing for reelection under
an unreformed electoral law that
favors the well-known names, and
except for the additionally we'll
organized Communists, the candi-
dates are hopelessly split into no
less than 81 separate parties. The
nom Communist ranks are so torn
BY internal pickering that there Is
no hope for really secure cohesive
new majority.
With more than one-fourth Of all
French votes, the Communists are
the first major bloc in the country
today. With the allied Progressive
Party, they have 80 seats in the
present Assembly. To keep the
number of Communist deputies
down in 1851, France figured out
O complcated-and basically I'M
fair-electoral law called ZAP.
parentements." or groupings. Under
this system. any party, or any grotip
OF parties which gets a majority
of the votes cast in any department
wins all the seats. If no one gets
q majority. the votes are distrib-
uted proportionately to the party
or group of parties with the most
votes. In 1851 the non-Communists
were far more united than they are
today, and the system OF ZAP
parentements" achieved its basic
purpose-to reduce the number Of
Communist deputies as much as
possible. But today, the non
Communists are so badly split
amongst themselves that they are
not forming the same groups. And
as result most experts give the
Communists at least another 20
seats, and probably as many as 80.
Mendes Frances Role
The next major bloc in the
French political structure today Is
the newly formed Republican
Front" led by the tough and Wig
orous Pierre Mendes-France. Men
des took over the Radical Party
tvo months ago, gave 1t ruthless
house cleaning. and made elections
alliances with the big Socialist
Party Goa seats. the small UDSR
Party GA seats), and scattering
Of the left-wing followers of Gen.
d. Gaulle. According to o recent
public opinion poll. ~ per cent Of
IN Efenchmen want to see Mendes-
Irafice as the next French Prime
Minister. almost three times more
than the, next preference, outgoing
Premier Edgar Faure. But Mendes'
fight with Faure has made 1t all
but impossible. This fight turned
the powerful and skillful Faure,
plus half the Radical Party, against
Mendes and into the arms Of the
next major political bloc.
This is the Center Right. led
By another former Prime Minister.
Antoine Pinay, closely seconded
now by Faure. The Center Right
- . loosely organized collection Of
Catholic, independent, peasant and
former Gaullist deputies with about
230 seats--not enough to govern,
but enough to make 1t impossible