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Plea By Reynaud
Rejected
Australian Associated Press
PARIS. Mav 28.
The French National
Assembly today rejected
the nomination of M.
Paul Hcvnand as Prime
Minister. i
M. Reynaud earlier .told
the Assembly he would;
agree to form a Government!
only if it amended the con-j
stitution to give him what;
would amount to 18 months1;
security of tenure. I
Voting figures showed ;
that M. Reynaud was sup- i
ported by only 276 votes,
instead of 314 constitu
tionally necessary to ap
prove him as Prime Minis
ter. There were 235 votes
against.
M. Reynaud asked that the
constitution be amended so
that general elections would
be held if the Government
fell after less than 18 months
n office.
President Auriol is expec
ted to call on M. Georges1
Bidault to become Prime!
Minister-designate. j
[M. Reynaud was the third
this week to be invited to
form a Government. M. Guy:
Mollet. Socialist leader, and
M. Andre Dietheum, Gaullist
leader, have already de-i
clined.l I
M. Reynaud, in the As- i
sembly yesterday, said, 'I \
would not go to Bermuda j
and endure the humilia- i
tion to France of having i
Sir Winston Churchill and
President Eisenhower ask- i
ing themselves whether I !
would still be Prime Min- i
ister a fortnight later.'
M. Reynaud made this
statement in support of his
offer to agree to form a Gov
ernment only if it amended
the constitution.
Earlier, he told the
crowded House. 'France
needs today greater reforms
than she did on the eve of
the French Revolution.'
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