Victory for Pinay

The French Senate, like the British House of Lords, is a withered arm of government; it can delay legislation passed by the Lower House, but cannot stop it. Nonetheless, elections in the Senate give one measure of French opinion. This week half of the Senate's 320 seats were up for election. Result: Premier Antoine Pinay, the commonsensible businessman who has cut prices and strengthened the franc, picked up nine seats for his moderate rightist Independent Republicans and Peasants. Most of them were at the expense of General Charles de Gaulle's French People's Rally, which lost nine of its 36 seats. Once again Antoine Pinay had proved that he can dent De Gaulle's monolithic strength as no one has before.

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