A FORMER French defence minister, Mr Francois Leotard, was yesterday chosen as leader of France's second most powerful political grouping, the Union for French Democracy.
Mr Leotard (54), was elected head of the centre right coalition by a comfortable majority in a first round vote, garnering more than 57 per cent of the vote against 30 per cent for his nearest challenger, former economy minister Mr Alain Madelin. His victory signals a triumphant return from the political wilderness.
He succeeds the UDF's founder, Mr Valery Giscard d'Estaing. Mr Giscard (70), who decided not to stand again for the UDF presidency, earlier threw his weight behind Mr Madelin, but urged the 1,700 delegates to make up their own minds.
The battle to succeed Mr Giscard has been rumbling on for months, amid widespread criticism of the former national president within the UDF, an umbrella grouping for Christian democrat and centre right parties.
Mr Giscard d'Estaing was president for one term from 1974-81. His legacy as one of the most import ant figures in the post De Gaulle era is mixed. He will be remembered as the supreme product of the French system of producing high flying technocrats. He is one of the very few men to have passed through its two uniquely elitist civil service colleges, the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole National d'Administration, and then joined the Finance Inspectorate, the most exclusive upper stratum of the public service.
His personal background and style was even more patrician than his two predecessors, De Gaulle and Pompidou, complete with smart dinners and weekends in country chateaux with the rich and titled.
He came into office in 1974 promising a bold vision of rapid technological advance, European integration and wide ranging social reform, leading to his so called "advanced liberal society".
His first actions were radical: he reduced the voting age to 18; made divorce easier; pushed through France's first abortion law; started moves to liberalise State broadcasting; and set in train some comprehensive and egalitarian educational reforms.
But both economic and political circumstances and his own personal shortcomings were against him. Most damaging was the deep economic recession which coincided with his period in office. This saw the devastating collapse of many of France's traditional industries - coal, iron and steel, textiles - with consequent dramatic rises in unemployment, strikes and social unrest.
Personal traits added to his problems. He was regarded as secretive, often unpleasantly autocratic and snobbish. At the end of his reign - for reign it had become - he caused national scandal by accepting a gift of diamonds from the brutal African dictator, Jean Bokassa. The 1981 election of Francois Mitterrand was seen widely as the beginning of a new era.
For the past 15 years Giscard d'Estaing has remained active in both the French and European parliaments and was an early advocate of both Britain and Ireland's entry to the EEC.