Supporters of President Charles de Gaulle won an overwhelming parliamentary victory yesterday [June 30, Paris] and dealt a stunning defeat to the French Communist Party barely a month after a wave of strikes and riots had brought the Gaullists seemingly near collapse. The average Frenchman’s fear of what De Gaulle called “totalitarian Communism” was regarded as a key factor in returns that officially gave 358 seats in the 487-seat National Assembly to candidates pledged to back the 77-year-old President. The Gaullists held 242 seats when the last Assembly was dissolved. The combined Opposition won 127 seats. The Communists had 34, compared with 73 in the out-going Parliament. The Federation of Democratic and Socialist Left, the major grouping of De Gaulle’s opponents, dropped to 57 seats from 118.
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