After the French Parliament passed its vote of censure against the De Gaulle Cabinet early this month, theoretically toppling the government, Le Grand Charles turned to his Premier, Georges Pompidou. "You must admit,'' he said, "that at least we're not bored."
Neither was the rest of France last week, as De Gaulle fought to win his Oct. 28 referendum, which proposes direct election of future Presidents.
Still Fighting. One night a familiar scene flashed on television. At a Louis XV desk in the library of the Elysée Palace sat De Gaulle, erect as an Alp, puffed face serene, aging voice steady. His words were blunt: unless the French electorate not only votes yes in the referendum, but does so by a massive margin, "my task will be ended, immediately and irrevocably." De Gaulle concluded: "But if, as I hope, as I am sure, you answer me yes once more, then I shall be confirmed by all of you in the burden I bear."
In fact, De Gaulle has as good as won the referendum; the only remaining questions are the margin of victory, and what effect it will have on next month's elections for a new National Assembly. But the opposition is still fighting.
De Gaulle's adversaries fear that direct presidential elections may swallow up most of France's dozen political parties, each of which is already riven by factionalism. The moderate right knows it can never assemble enough voters eventually to elect its favorite, Antoine Pinay, as De Gaulle's successor. The Roman Catholic M.R.P. is torn between its conservative clerical and young progressive wings, and the clericals dread the prospect of a popularly elected President's reopening the issue of state aid to church schools, which for more than 100 years split French politics and villages down the middle. Socialists are in a similar bind—divided from M.R.P. progressives by the religious issue, they can elect a President only with Communist support. But such a coalition would drive the Socialist right wing, headed by ex-Premier Guy Mollet, into a deal with the moderate right.
Last Word. The party leaders want to avoid these dilemmas and play the game as it has always been played in France, as an endless ronde of Premiers, with every middle-ground group getting a chance at office. Predictably, they cried "blackmail'' at De Gaulle's latest threat to deprive France of himself, and some hoped that a reaction might set in among voters challenged once too often to vote yes, or else. But pre-referendum polls show De Gaulle with a comfortable 67% majority, and opposition speakers find it necessary to protest that they are not for driving De Gaulle back home to Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises but merely back to parliamentary government.
Posters called for "No to the unknown. Who will be the successor? De Gaulle does not know, nor you either." But the Gaullists were even winning the war of words. A leaflet mocked the opposition: "I am intelligent enough to vote for a Deputy. I am not intelligent enough to elect a President of the Republic. Since I am an imbecile, I am therefore voting no."