Mitterand Defeats Chirac, French Right

PARIS--President Francois Mitterrand was reelected Sunday to a second seven-year term in a resounding victory over conservative Premier Jacques Chirac.

The Socialist president pledged to fight the anguish, difficulty and uncertainty facing many French people.

"You have chosen to accord me your confidence," said Mitterrand, 71.

"There is too much anguish, too much difficulty and too much uncertainty for too many in our society for us to forget that our first duty is national solidarity," he said. "Because the life of humanity depends on it, I will act passionately in your name for the development of poor nations, for disarmament and peace."

Chirac conceded defeat shortly after the polls closed. Mitterrand supporters drove along the main Champs-Elysees Avenue cheering and honking horns.

"In a democracy, the public is the master and I bow before its choice," the premier said. "I wish good luck to France and good luck to the French."

With 90.8 percent of the voted counted, Mitterrand had 54.21 percent and Chirac 45.79 percent. Turnout was estimated at 84.7 percent, less than the 85.9 percent voting in the 1981 presidential election. More than 38 million people were elgible to vote.

Chirac was expected to submit the resignation of his government in the next few days. His center-right coalition continues to control the National Assembly, but Mitterrand has said the new premier he plans to name will try to work with the present Parliament. Failing that, he will be forced to dissolve the Assembly and call new elections.

In the first round of elections on April 24, Mitterrand won 34.1 percent of the vote to lead a field of nine candidates. Chirac was second with 19.9 percent.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the extreme right National Front, won an astonishing 14.4 percent of the vote in the first round. He said in a bitter statement yesterday that the traditional right was "the stupidest right in the world."

He blamed Chirac for scorning the National Front and said that was responsible for Mitterrand's victory.

"Today, France is back in the dead end it could have escaped," he said.

Former President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, a centrist who supported Chirac, said Mitterrand's re-election was a defeat for the government's center-right policies.

"The president is going to name a new government," Giscard said. "We will judge it by its acts. One should not decide in advance to vote against it. I will vote for the laws that I find good and I will vote against the laws that I find bad."

The campaign ended on a dramatic note, with the Chirac government winning the release of French hostages in Lebanon and New Caledonia.