Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-01-05
81 CROSBY s. MOVES

L 9AAgbSStt SStAs@NSs-N4S@%N - 49, -
i PARIS, Jan. Sit is some
comfort that Premier Edgar
lFaure admits to being just al
confused as everyone else ovei
conflicting figures and claims
about Mondays election.
| At this point the whole thing
has turned into a furious sta
Itistical battle. Each day every
French newspaper brings out
q new crop Of tables. pie-shaped
charts. lists Of comparative flg-
lures and analytical graphs Il
explain what has happened. And
leach day questions of how the
country voted. who won and lost
land what the next French AS
Isembly viii be like grow more
lhopelessly confused.
/ Even the most elementary
facts come unhinged under the
magic touch Of the statistician
The election resulted in gain Of
$50 seats for Communists and
their allies. It swept into power
Isl members Of Pierre Poujades
lragamuffin revolutionary move
Iment.
Confusion Over Claims
Is France turning toward pc.
llitical extremism?
Sure screams the newspaper
Humanite. "Of course. 2 yeils Mr.
|Poujade. Give us another cleo.
Ition and wen control the as.
lsembly."
Nonsense" retorts Mr.. Faurf
and the entire conservative press
THE election was in no sense q
victory for Communists. The fact
lis that their percentage OF total
Ivote was smaller than in 1851
1T simply turned out that the
electoral law worked in favor OF
the Communists this time. Fig
lures are on hand to prove that
last Monday 1t took $4,000 fewer
Votes to elect each Communist
deputy than it did in 1851 while
lit took as many as $4,000 more
Ito elect one non-C Communist dep
Iuty."
"As for the extreme right it Ii
recalled that the 1851 vote re-
suited In election of 100 members
LOT Gen. Charles DeGaulle's RPF
la now defunct organization
considered at the time to be al
Imost as extremist and antipar-
Humanitarian as Mr.. Poujade's
movement Is today.
/ And so depending on what
paper you read 1t Is possible tc
convince yourself that the elec-
ton was really after all a victory
for moderate center politicaI
groups even though many Of
these parties lost their seats ir
the new legislature. And that
the majority Of French people
have shown themselves II any.
thing less extremist than ever.
Bitter Statistical Battle
The bitterest statistical battle
lis being waged between center
groups themselves and here thu
problem grows a good deal more
complex. It Is. however, at least
las important since the argument
raging between the left-centel
Republican front led by Pierr,
Mendes-France and right-centel
group led by Mr.. Faure will de.
ltermine the kind Of government
that France win have from nov
ION.
| A few hours after the poll,
were closed, the pro-Mendes.
France Express was on the stree
announcing a landslide victor,
for the Republican front and {
stunning defeat for the oppo.
Isition led by Mr.. Faure. Mex
day they claimed boldly that tn,
Republican front had amasseC
SD million votes. compared t.
5.4 million for the government
coalition and thus emerged a.
the "only intact force" repre-
senting Republican government
lin France. AS to Mr.. Faure'
Ilosses. the same issue of tn,
Express disagreed with itself. an,
lnouncing on page ! the loss o