Non, Mon General!

Local elections in France are usually just that: fought and decided on local issues and parochial personalities. But for this year's round of elections municipales, Charles de Gaulle decided to think grand. Ordered onto the hustings were no fewer than 16 of his Cabinet officers, including Premier Georges Pompidou, a onetime banker and literary critic who had never run for anything in his life. Everywhere the invading Gaullist commandos were given lavish support by the regional stations of the government-controlled radio and television.

De Gaulle's aim was to seize control of as many local governments as possible for his U.N.R. party, which has precious little of the grass-roots support it will need to survive its creator. The campaign proved a dismal failure. Though 14 of the 16 Cabinet ministers won, the U.N.R. as a whole failed to gain a majority on the council of any city of more than 100,000 population except Bordeaux, which the party already controlled. Particularly galling to De Gaulle was the lack of a majority in Paris itself, which the Gaullists had been confident of capturing.

The Gaullists were itching to defeat the general's only announced opponent in the presidential elections later this year, Socialist Gaston Defferre, who was running for re-election as mayor of Marseille. But Defferre triumphed handsomely and proudly hailed his victory as a "stinging defeat" for that "historic personage" in Paris. It was hardly that. The nationwide results were really little more than a tweak of the De Gaulle nose. However inept as vote getters his minions may be, De Gaulle himself remains undisputably the most popular man in France and virtually a certain bet to succeed himself as President.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.