Original: In 1981 Mitterrand defeated the incumbent conservative, ValÃ ry Giscard d'Estaing, to become the first socialist of the Fifth Republic to be elected President of France by universal suffrage.
Simplified: In 1981 Mitterrand defeated the conservative, ValÃ ry Giscard d'Estaing, to become the first socialist elected President of France by universal suffrage.