Agonized Men

Returning from Geneva, Foreign Minister Antoine Pinay observed that the next step was for the foreign ministers to report to their chiefs of government -"at least those lucky enough to have one," he added wryly. At week's end Pinay and France still had Edgar Faure as chief of government. But he was a Premier kept in office by Communist votes, at odds with his Cabinet, rebuffed by his Assembly.

Concealed in the bewildering shuttle-cocking of maneuvers was a crucial issue: how a new Assembly should be elected. The method chosen would determine the balance of political power in France. All week Deputies shifted and trimmed, rejected in the Assembly what they accepted in committee, approved in the mornings what they killed at night.

Three Methods. At week's end the game was not yet over, but it was clear who was behind. Faure had lost his bid for early elections in December. Out of sheer indecision, the Assembly let time run out during one confused midnight session. It was a clear victory for ex-Premier Mendes-France, who had been fighting for delay until he could organize a left-center coalition that might return him to power. Now elections would be impossible until January, at the earliest.

Still unsettled was the method. The three principal methods under debate: P: Proportional Representation. Seats are allotted to each party in the same proportion as its total popular vote. This favors the big mass parties like the Socialists and Communists.P: Man-for-Man Voting. This is basically the U.S. method of election by small electoral district (there are 311 arron dissements). If no candidate wins an absolute majority, there is a runoff one week later. This encourages voting for the man instead of the party, favors parties of "notables," such as the Radicals. P:The Alliance System. The system now in effect, it was devised by the center parties in 1951 to cut down the strength of extreme right and left. Elections are by departments (roughly equivalent to large U.S. counties). Each party can pool its votes with others to form an apparentement, or alliance in each of the 90 departments of France. If the alliance as a whole wins a majority in the department, it takes all the seats. The seats are then divided proportionally among the victorious group. Since nobody in 1951 was apt to ally with either the Communists or the Gaullists, this method allowed the center parties to unite as friends long enough to win all the seats in the department, then as rivals to whack up the spoils. Basically, it is unfair, and most Deputies admit it. Still in effect, it was the only one with a chance of approval in time to allow Faure's early elections.

New Maps. For parties and Deputies choosing the most desirable method is a matter of life and death. For example, the Communists now have 94 seats, the

Radicals 75. Under proportional representation, experts estimate the Communists would increase their seats to 160; the Radicals (who include both Faure and Mendes-France) would drop to 60. But under the small-district system, the Communists would drop to 70 seats, the Radicals increase to no.

At week's end, unable to pass a satisfactory bill, the Assembly voted to put off debate entirely until the government drafted a new map of electoral districts. With every Deputy's seat at stake, the arguments over the exact boundaries of each district might take months. The French Assembly, which had shown little talent for living, was also showing little grace in dying.

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