French Conservatives Seek New Strategy; Chirac Ready to Resign

Divided French conservatives tried Monday to sift through the wreckage of the devastating electoral defeat of their candidate, Jacques Chirac, at the hands of President Francois Mitterrand and come up with a strategy for salvaging the once-powerful political right.

But the divisions were so acute that the conflicting comments of conservatives raised more questions than they answered, and it was obvious that many politicians were not sure just how to react to the imminent moves of a triumphant Mitterrand.

A first step was taken by Chirac, who sent word to the president’s office in the Elysee Palace that he is ready to resign today and pave the way for Mitterrand to name a new premier and a left-center government. But even that provoked confusion.

Chirac’s spokesman, Dennis Baudouin, said the premier had not received a reply to his offer. It was not clear whether the delay reflected annoyance at the way Chirac made the offer or a desire by the president for more time to make up his mind on a successor.

Mitterrand, who swept to victory over Chirac by the decisive margin of 54% to 46% in the final round of the presidential election Sunday, is expected to name a new premier by Wednesday at the latest. Speculation centered on four non-doctrinaire Socialists, most prominently former Minister of Agriculture Michel Rocard.

Transformation of Politics

Almost all analysts agreed that the election outcome will transform the political landscape of France, especially on the right. But it was not clear just how.

The right is now divided into three relatively weak groups: centrists led by Raymond Barre and former President Valery Giscard d’Estaing, Gaullist conservatives led by Chirac and extreme rightists led by Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Chirac can no longer lay unchallenged claim to leadership of the right. In the first round of voting April 24, Chirac won more votes than Barre and Le Pen--but not many more. And his position was enfeebled by his poor showing in the second round, the worst by a candidate of the right since direct elections of presidents began in France in 1965.

The centrists need to make up their minds in the next few days whether to accept an expected offer from Mitterrand to associate themselves with the Socialists in the new government. The influential newspaper Le Monde urged Barre “to unblock French political life” by taking “the hand extended by Mitterrand.” Otherwise, Le Monde said, Mitterrand will have to call new parliamentary elections.

Barre has given no hint that he will go as far as Le Monde suggests in cooperating with Mitterrand. Other centrists appeared divided about what to do. Giscard d’Estaing said in a television interview that he would like to see the centrists form “a constructive opposition, without joining them or breaking from them.”

That appeared to be the prevailing view of Giscard D’Estaing’s political confederation, but other influential centrist politicians like Minister of Culture Francois Leotard favored a more aggressive opposition.

A second question, mostly for Chirac’s party, the Gaullist Rally for the Republic, is how to treat Le Pen, who took more than 14% of the vote in the first round with a campaign based mainly on a constant vilification of immigrants. One wing of the party, led by Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, believes that the conservatives must try to woo Le Pen’s supporters away from him. Another, led by Finance Minister Edouard Balladur, believes that the party must reject Le Pen completely.

The battle is still raging, even though many analysts now insist that Pasqua’s attempt to attract Le Pen’s voters contributed heavily to Chirac’s defeat by alienating centrist voters.

Most analysts believe that Mitterrand will choose his premier from among a group that includes Rocard, 57, the former minister of agriculture who has long appealed to many voters outside the Socialist Party; Pierre Beregovoy, 62, a former finance minister; Jacques Delors, 62, also a former finance minister, who is now president of the European Economic Commission, and Jean-Louis Bianco, 45, Mitterrand’s secretary general, the equivalent of a White House chief of staff.

Any Socialist premier might have a difficult time with the present National Assembly. Chirac ran the government with the support of a conservative coalition that had a majority of the 577 deputies in the Assembly.