World Notes France

Its name, La Proportionnelle, may sound musical, but the controversial new electoral plan based on proportional representation, proposed last week by President Francois Mitterrand's government, has provoked feelings that are anything but harmonious. "Shameful," declared Jacques Chirac, the mayor of Paris and leader of the right-leaning neo-Gaullists. A volley from the left came only 13 hours after the announcement of the plan, when the highly popular Minister of Agriculture, Michel Rocard, a Socialist and longtime Mitterrand rival, resigned in protest.

The legislation, which is expected to be passed by the Socialist-dominated National Assembly, will replace the 27-year-old winner-take-all system in election districts. Under the old scheme, the party that won the most votes in a district took the seat in that district; the revised rules will apportion seats according to the votes won by each party in each of France's regional units called departments. Mitterrand, whose term runs until 1988, is clearly intent on bolstering the chances of his Socialists, who are trailing in the polls, for next year's parliamentary elections. Even so, the center-right opposition may win the most seats overall. One reason: Mitterrand's economic austerity programs have eroded support for the Socialists by alienating many blue-collar workers.