Europe's other landslide: The French national assembly elections of May-June 1997

Political Quarterly

Volumn 68, Issue 4, 1997, Pages 412-424

  Shields, James G ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0031532143     PISSN: 00323179     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/1467-923X.00109     Document Type: Article

References (14)

1. Unless otherwise stated, figures relating to the 1997 election and comparative figures for 1993 are based on data published in Le Monde: dossiers et documents, 'Elections legislatives 25 mai-1er juin 1997', Paris, 1997, and 'Elections legislatives 21-28 mars 1993', Paris, 1993.
2. Unless otherwise stated, figures relating to the 1997 election and comparative figures for 1993 are based on data published in Le Monde: dossiers et documents, 'Elections legislatives 25 mai-1er juin 1997', Paris, 1997, and 'Elections legislatives 21-28 mars 1993', Paris, 1993.
3. Revised down from 12.8 per cent by the National Statistics Institute (INSEE) (Le Monde, 28 June 1997).
4. To reclaim Labour's victory for the Socialist left, Jospin saw fit to contribute an article to the weekly Le Nouvel Observateur (7-13 May 1997), arguing that Labour's was not a 'right-wing programme' but a 'moderate left-wing programme, less bold than our own in certain respects'. This was in response to Alain Juppé and others on the centre-right, who greeted Labour's triumph as that of a 'liberal' politics which had 'renounced socialism' (Libération, 3-4 May 1997). Jean Daniel's editorial, in the same Nouvel Observateur, summed up New Labour's programme as 'a perfect synthesis not only of the programmes of both left and right in France, but of all the contradictory imperatives confronting most politicians, whether of right or left'.
5. To reclaim Labour's victory for the Socialist left, Jospin saw fit to contribute an article to the weekly Le Nouvel Observateur (7-13 May 1997), arguing that Labour's was not a 'right-wing programme' but a 'moderate left-wing programme, less bold than our own in certain respects'. This was in response to Alain Juppé and others on the centre-right, who greeted Labour's triumph as that of a 'liberal' politics which had 'renounced socialism' (Libération, 3-4 May 1997). Jean Daniel's editorial, in the same Nouvel Observateur, summed up New Labour's programme as 'a perfect synthesis not only of the programmes of both left and right in France, but of all the contradictory imperatives confronting most politicians, whether of right or left'.
6. To reclaim Labour's victory for the Socialist left, Jospin saw fit to contribute an article to the weekly Le Nouvel Observateur (7-13 May 1997), arguing that Labour's was not a 'right-wing programme' but a 'moderate left-wing programme, less bold than our own in certain respects'. This was in response to Alain Juppé and others on the centre-right, who greeted Labour's triumph as that of a 'liberal' politics which had 'renounced socialism' (Libération, 3-4 May 1997). Jean Daniel's editorial, in the same Nouvel Observateur, summed up New Labour's programme as 'a perfect synthesis not only of the programmes of both left and right in France, but of all the contradictory imperatives confronting most politicians, whether of right or left'.
7. On the FN's performance in these elections, see J. G. Shields, 'La politique du pire: the Front National and the 1997 legislative elections', French Politics and Society, Summer 1997.
8. BVA exit poll, Le Figaro, 3 June 1997.
9. Le Monde, 29 May 1997. Chirac had already made a highly partisan intervention in the campaign through a newspaper article in which he defended his Government's record and criticised the programme of the left, calling on the French to support him and cast a vote for 'five years of political stability' (Le Monde, 8 May 1997).
10. Le Monde, 29 May 1997. Chirac had already made a highly partisan intervention in the campaign through a newspaper article in which he defended his Government's record and criticised the programme of the left, calling on the French to support him and cast a vote for 'five years of political stability' (Le Monde, 8 May 1997).
11. SOFRES poll, Libération, 3 June 1997. A poll carried out during the campaign showed the main electoral proposals of the RPR-UDF to be thought considerably more 'realistic' than those of the PS (with 58-59 per cent of respondents judging unrealistic the PS's proposals to create 700,000 jobs and reduce the working week to thirty-five hours) (IFOP poll, Libération, 5 May 1997).
12. SOFRES poll, Libération, 3 June 1997. A poll carried out during the campaign showed the main electoral proposals of the RPR-UDF to be thought considerably more 'realistic' than those of the PS (with 58-59 per cent of respondents judging unrealistic the PS's proposals to create 700,000 jobs and reduce the working week to thirty-five hours) (IFOP poll, Libération, 5 May 1997).
13. According to the SOFRES post-election poll, 77 per cent of FN voters believe democracy in France functions badly, while 72 per cent have confidence in neither the left nor the right to govern the country (Libération, 3 June 1997).
14. SOFRES poll, Libération, 3 June 1997.