De Gaulle and the French Voter

Abstract

Gaullism has dominated the French National Assembly since 1962. The election of March 1967, while not as favourable to President de Gaulle's followers as they might have hoped, nevertheless returned a slight majority. According to some of the more optimistic commentators, this triumph was particularly significant since voters were called upon to support the Union for the New Republic-Democratic Union of Labour (UNR-UDT) and its allies at a time when no political crisis was looming over the horizon. Unable to depend so much upon the personality of de Gaulle, the Gaullists had to run on their own merits to a greater extent than in the past. Furthermore, the apparently growing polarisation between the opposition and the government majority increased the likelihood that many voters were casting their ballots either for or against the government. The confirmation of the latter in power for a second successive term therefore was interpreted as a good omen for the future. Finally, it was suggested that 1967 saw the ‘Action Committee for the Fifth Republic’ expand its hitherto somewhat sectional base into a more diffuse support throughout the nation. This change was seen as evidence of greater local implantation.