Upsets Before Setup

One of the distinctions of France's parliamentary system is that usually nobody can possibly tell who won an election for at least eight days. Last Sunday was good voting weather, cold and drizzly. Some 10,000,000 male voters, an unusually large turnout, went to the polls to choose the 16th Chamber of Deputies of the Third Republic.

Six hundred and eighteen seats had to be filled. Announced candidates for those seats totaled 3,580 divided among more than 20 different parties three weeks ago, but had mounted to 4,807 by the time polling places were opened.* At the end of ten hours, the 10,000,000 voters had only succeeded in electing 179 Deputies by a clear majority of votes cast. All the other districts will have to have a second ballot this Sunday when a straight plurality will elect a candidate. Commentators, soothsayers, fortunetellers, numerologists and betting commissioners promptly sat down to make what they could of election results. A few facts were obvious:

P: If the Communists, Socialists and left-wing Radical Socialists who form the Popular Front can stick to their plan of united action through the run-off elections, they should control the next Chamber, should be able to form the next Cabinet. Their united votes last week were less than had been anticipated, about 50% of the 10,000,000 cast. Thus chances were that the Left Front can form a government only by coin-promising with the Right in the traditional French manner. During the life of the last Chamber of Deputies France changed Cabinets eleven times.

P: One French voter in every ten voted the straight Communist ticket last week. About the same number voted for the extreme Nationalist (right wing) ticket.

P: Eighteen of the 23 Cabinet members were up for reelection. None was defeated outright, but at least four, Air Minister Marcel Deat, Minister of National Education Henri Guernut, Minister of Justice Yvon Delbos and Undersecretary for Technical Education Jules Julien, will have to stand the embarrassment of a runoff.

P: The upset that startled France most was that of Edouard Herriot. For the first time in his political career he failed to win his seat on the first election. Apparently the voters of Lyon felt not so guilty as he had hoped over France's failure to pay its War debt to the U. S. Piqued, M. Herriot cried loudly that he would retire forever from politics, a statement that required a soothing long-distance call from Premier Sarraut before M. Herriot would consent to participate in a run-off that should be a walkover.

*A record of a sort was established by the town of St. Gaudens in the wine-growing Department of Haute-Garonne. Twelve hundred voters were faced with 111 candidates trying for one seat. Candidates included five barbers, three bakers, eleven shopkeepers, two printers, nine electricians, one professional wine-taster.

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