Towards the Left in France
The results of last Sunday's elections to the Councils-General of the Departments in France are not conclusive, as many second ballots have to take place next Sunday. None the less, the general outcome is now pretty clear. The parties of the Right have suffered severely, the Conservatives being likely to lose more than half their strength, and the Republican Democrats about a third. Their losses were expected, as were also those of the Socialist-Radicals, who suffer the unpopularity arising from their ascendancy in 1940. The Socialists have secured the largest number of gains, and they will probably emerge as the strongest single party. The new group, the Popular Republican Movement, a middle party with a progressive pro- gramme, has done well, and is likely to outnumber the Communists, who will, however, be stronger than they have ever been before, but resting to a considerable extent on votes given for their " Repub- lican " rather than their Communist programme. The general swing has been towards the Left, but it is by no means a landslide. There will probably be a considerable majority of Councillors who are disposed to support the de Gaulle regime. This trial of strength in the departments affords some basis for speculation as to the results of the general election and the referendum on the Constituent* Assembly which will be held next month. The prevailing feeling in France is that the swing of the pendulum to the Left has reached'its limit, and that it may already have begun to move in the opposite direction.
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