France What Victory Will Mean

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Francois Mitterrand won a second seven-year term as France's President on Sunday, with 54% of the vote against Premier Jacques Chirac's 46%. The result was hardly startling after Mitterrand's strong showing in the first round of balloting on April 24, though the release of three French hostages in Lebanon last Wednesday seemed briefly to boost Chirac's chances. Chirac failed to capture enough supporters of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the ultra-rightist candidate, who fared surprisingly well in the initial round. On the eve of his triumph, Mitterrand, 71, outlined his plans for the second term with Time Inc. Editor- in-Chief Jason McManus, TIME Managing Editor Henry Muller, Assistant Managing Editor Karsten Prager and Paris Bureau Chief Jordan Bonfante. Excerpts from the interview and from written answers to questions submitted earlier:

Q. What have you learned about France during this campaign?

A. I was astonished by the great number of young people at rallies and by their impressive support. That is new because the young ordinarily have reservations about political parties. And it brings a new, different tone to our politics. They are very sensitive to anything that has to do with human rights, generosity, the Third World, culture, scientific research, the adventure of the mind, education, professional training and equal opportunity. They reject discriminations. For them, these problems supersede the others.

Q. What are we to make of the Le Pen phenomenon?

A. The majority of French men and women who voted for the National Front always thought as they do today, but they used to vote for Premier Chirac's party. Put simply, there has been a restructuring of the right because the Premier, given his obligations, could not go as far as Mr. Le Pen in responding to the aspirations and the needs of those people.

Then there is the phenomenon that has been analyzed long before us, by historians and sociologists since the beginnings of this century: where there is serious and durable unemployment, there is a push toward the nationalist right wing. Even when they lose their jobs, middle-class people remain faithful to their cultural patterns. Logically, they should move to the left and vote Communist. No. They move to the extreme right.

There they join people excluded from everything -- the unemployed, the homeless, those who live in dirty, crowded neighborhoods devoid of any city planning, mothers and fathers who cannot find anyone to take care of their children while they still have to work. These people become desperate. They come from the left, but they vote for the National Front.

Q. What are your foreign policy priorities for the second term?

A. Peace and disarmament. The union of Europe, that is, the completion of an economic Europe and the setting up of a political Europe. The intensification of an effort of the major industrialized nations toward the Third World.

I will encourage the United States and the Soviet Union to continue on the path of disarmament to which they have committed themselves at last. I shall do my best to hasten the start of negotiations on conventional weapons in Europe. I shall remind others that though security is based on deterrence, that does not mean either constant overbidding or redundancy, and that a reduction of the arms race is the logical complement of this strategy.