French presidential election, 1981

As one quickly comes to realize in the study of politics, the "rules of the game," the institutional design can determine the fate of the players in the game. This could be no truer than in the French political system. Surrounding the French presidential election of 1981 was an absolutely extraordinary set of circumstances that moved the France into a new phase of politics. From these circumstantial anomalies emerged the first Socialist president of the Fifth Republic; indeed, the election of Socialist François Mitterrand marked the first administration change in the Fifth Republic.

Electoral system

If Giscard?s internal political handicaps had effectively "crippled" him in the initial race, the external factors that decided the 1981 election were a deadly blow. Neatly summarized in an article by Hugh Dauncey: "It was Giscard's double misfortune that his presidency should be blighted both by unprecedented economic difficulties, and by a political system which was stubbornly unreceptive to the ouverture and centralist compromise that he required for his reforms to fully succeed". The electoral and party system (political system) in France had, indeed, undergone many gradual yet critical changes during the previous years. Universal suffrage, direct election, and the introduction of the two-round, majority vote requirement played a large role in the election of 1981. The new electoral system divided the various Rightist and Leftist factions within themselves during the first round (In a previous election, for example, the Left had introduced too many candidates during the first round, and had no candidate to run against the Right), but led to Right and Left polarization during the second round. This forces the Right and Left to strategize for both the first and second parts of the election. To survive the first part of a French election, only a small number of separate parties from the Right and the Left can participate, represent their groups, and carry their party?s banner without penalizing their Rightist or Leftist ability to get into the second round. And each candidate must present him or herself in as the better candidate while being careful not to remove all credibility of his/her fellow Right or Left candidates, as their opponents may have to run again in the next round against the opposing Right or Left candidate. In the second round, however, total unity must be achieved. This leads to the movement of both groups toward the center, with coalitions between center groups and extremists within the Right and Left. With these new "rules of the game," Mitterrand came into power.

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Divided Right

The electoral "rules of the game," was one of the most notable factors that decided the 1981 French presidential election. The division within the Right between the two main Rightist factions, Giscard?s Union pour la democratie François (UDF), and Chirac?s neo-Gaullist Rassemblement pour la République (RPR) was the final blow to Giscard (Painton, par. 12). When Chirac lost the "primary," he, in effect, refused to endorse Giscard as the candidate of the Right to the party constituents. Other, similarly important events had also been taking place within the party during Giscard?s presidency. Several of the Right?s ministers and high-ranking officials had been involved in various moral and monetary scandals. This put a damper on the Right?s general popularity and was a contributing factor to Giscard?s loss. During the presidential campaign, large posters of Giscard were defaced with large diamonds that were placed over his eyes to remind the public of the questionable diamonds that the President had accepted from Jean Bedel Bokassa, self-proclaimed "emperor" of the Central African Empire. There was also the tactical ingenuity on the part of the Left that brought about Mitterrand?s victory. As author Penniman points out, in a shrewd move, the Left gained "strength through disunity." The Right?s disunity between the UDF and RPR factions brought about the downfall of their major candidate. The split between the Left?s Socialist and Communist Parties, however, allowed the electorate to be more comfortable voting for the Socialists while gaining the Communist Party votes, which retains roughly 20% of the electorate votes.

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