Editing François Mitterrand (section)

===Socialist Party leader: 1971–1981===
After the FGDS's implosion Mitterrand turned to the [[French Socialist Party|Socialist Party]] (''Parti socialiste'' or PS). In June 1971, at the time of the [[Epinay Congress]], the CIR joined the PS, which had succeeded the SFIO in 1969. The executive of the PS was then dominated by [[Guy Mollet]]'s supporters. They proposed an "ideological dialogue" with the Communists. For François Mitterrand, an electoral alliance with the Communists was necessary to rise to power. With this in mind, François Mitterrand obtained the support of all the internal opponents to Mollet's faction and was elected as the first secretary of the PS. At the 1971 congress, he declared: "Whoever does not accept the break with the established order, with capitalist society, cannot be an adherent of the Socialist Party."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4t3wo_congres-d-epinay-1971-francois-mitt_news|title=Congrès d'Epinay (1971)|date=22 March 2008|website=Dailymotion|language=en-US|access-date=22 March 2017|quote=Celui qui n’accepte pas la rupture avec l’ordre établi, avec la société capitaliste, celui là, il ne peut pas être adhèrent du Parti Socialiste.|archive-date=23 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223075715/http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4t3wo_congres-d-epinay-1971-francois-mitt_news|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/08/francois-mitterrand-socialist-party-common-program-communist-pcf-1981-elections-austerity/|title=The Many Lives of François Mitterrand|last=Birch|first=Jonah|date=19 August 2015|website=[[Jacobin (magazine)|Jacobin]]|language=en-US|access-date=22 March 2017|archive-date=23 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323130713/https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/08/francois-mitterrand-socialist-party-common-program-communist-pcf-1981-elections-austerity/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In June 1972, Mitterrand signed the [[Programme commun|Common Programme of Government]] with the Communist [[Georges Marchais]] and the [[Left Radical Party|Left Radical]] [[Robert Fabre]]. With this programme, he led the [[1973 French legislative election|1973 legislative campaign]] of the "Union of the Left".

[[File:Strasbourg-1979-05-06 (3758237073).jpg|thumb|Mitterrand in Strasbourg on 5 May 1979]]
At the [[1974 French presidential election|1974 presidential election]], François Mitterrand received 43.2% of the vote in the first round, as the common candidate of the left. He faced [[Valéry Giscard d'Estaing]] in the second round. During the national TV debate, Giscard d'Estaing criticised him as being "a man of the past", due to his long political career. François Mitterrand was narrowly defeated by Giscard d'Estaing, François Mitterrand receiving 49.19% and Giscard 50.81%.

In 1977, the Communist and Socialist parties failed to update the ''Common Programme'', and then lost the [[1978 French legislative election|1978 legislative election]]. While the Socialists took the leading position on the left, by obtaining more votes than the Communists for the first time [[1936 French legislative election|since 1936]], the leadership of François Mitterrand was challenged by an internal opposition led by [[Michel Rocard]] who criticized the programme of the PS as being "archaic" and "unrealistic". The polls indicated Rocard was more popular than François Mitterrand. Nevertheless, François Mitterrand won the vote at the Party's [[Metz Congress]] (1979) and Rocard renounced his candidacy for the [[1981 French presidential election|1981 presidential election]].

For his third candidacy for the presidency, Mitterrand was not supported by the PCF but only by the PS. François Mitterrand projected a reassuring image with the slogan "the quiet force". He campaigned for "another politics", based on the Socialist programme ''[[110 Propositions for France]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://miroirs.ironie.org/socialisme/www.psinfo.net/elections/president/1981/index.html |title=Élection présidentielle de 1981 |publisher=Miroirs.ironie.org |access-date=11 March 2013 |archive-date=28 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130628193727/http://miroirs.ironie.org/socialisme/www.psinfo.net/elections/president/1981/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and denounced the performance of the incumbent president. Furthermore, he benefited from divisions in the right-wing majority. He obtained 25.85% of votes in the first round (against 15% for the PCF candidate [[Georges Marchais]]), then defeated President Giscard d'Estaing in the second round, with 51.76%. He became the first left-wing politician elected [[President of France]] by universal suffrage.