Le Sport
M. Pierre Montel, the candidate who split M. Laniel's vote in the ninth and tenth ballots for the election of the French President, told the editors of " Who's Who in France " that his favourite sport was " parlementaire." But for once in a while, it is because the members of the French Assembly are taking their politics too seriously that they have taken so long, after so many ballots, to find a man who can command a clear majority among them. In theory, the President of France is above politics. In practice, the first President of OA Fourth Republic has been the man who has largely created, from the fragments of the French party system, the coalitions that have, after their fashion, governed post-war France; and the second President of the Fourth Republic will have to con- tinue the process. So that when the Radicals denied their votes to M. Laniel, they were in' effect denying their identity with the predominantly right wing coalitions that have, with their support, been in power during the last few years. When they denied their votes to M. Naegelen, the Socialist candidate, they were refusing to associate themselves with the Communists who had voted for him. The fact that there was no clear majority for a President is thus a confirmation of the fact that there is no clear majority for a right wing or a left wing government in France. Nor is there a majority for the centre, because the schisms of French political life have gone so deep that even within the Radicals ranks there is no constant centre at which they can all agree on all issues. To every man but a French- man, the answer would be to choose a good President and let the politics take care of themselves. But a good President, such as M. Auriol, becomes in this situation a strong President, and since the days of McMahon strong Presidents have been anathema in France.
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