FRANCE: Truffles and Flourishes

Down to the wire, four abreast, in a tight campaign

As France's parliamentary election campaign came down to the wire, London bookies were offering 6-to-4 odds against a leftist victory. The franc ticked up in the international money markets, a mini-rally stirred the moribund Paris stock exchange, and President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and Premier Raymond Barre privately predicted a center-right win—by a narrow margin. But the left still led the center-right parties by about 50% to 46% in the latest polls, and there were plainly still some Frenchmen who were ready to...

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