Lesser evil
Sir: In the conclusion to his otherwise well-informed comment on Francois Mitterrand's personal success at the recent Socialist Party congress, Mr White (21 April) tends to overestimate the Socialist leader's threat to President Giscard re-election in 1981. It is doubtful that `at least 30 per cat of Gaullist voters will not vote for G1 card in the second round and that many of these will go to Mitterrand', for this hasty statement fails to mention .an important psychological factor. Gaullists have never questioned their faithfulness to General de Gaulle's political heritage. They have developed over the years a deep suspicion of the regime des partis — Which they associate with Mitterrand — and an unswerving faith in the institutions of the Fifth Republic. Mitterrand has always been their bete noire because he has always appeared as the fiercest oppdnent of General de Gaulle's and President Pompidou's policies. For Gaullists, to vote for a man who has always had in mind a fundamental revision of the Fifth Constitution would be equivalent to political suicide.
It is often said that, in France, we vote for the candidate we agree with in the first round and then choose the lesser evil in the second. In 1981, as in 1974, Giscard could well become this lesser evil to a vast majority of Gaullists. Guy Wilsdorf 9 Allee des Coquelicots, 79500 Melle, France
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