France votes today, in an atmosphere tense with division and acrimony. The Center-Left government, seeking to retain power, is highlighting the abuse of power for financial gain that caused the Conservatives to be comprehensively discredited a few years ago. "Do you want those thieves back in power?" goes the slogan. The government also points to the reconciliation with Germany, which has lifted the spectre of war.
Meanwhile, the Right makes effective use of the loss of French life from the explosion of PRS Palawan in Saigon this past summer, implying that the explosion damaging MN Paris was a deliberate plot by the Filippino government, and accusing the Herriot government of ignoring the interests of France in their dealings with other governments, pointing especially at the financial burden of debt repayments to the United States has been worsened by the Herriot government's renunciation of repaarations from Germany.
This election will be close, but in the final hours of the campaign this reporter judges that the Right is ahead.