On 10 May 1981, after 23 long years of opposition, the left returned to power in France. François Mitterrand finally defeated his opponent, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, winning 52% of the vote.
May 10, 1981 remains engraved in the memories of a whole generation of French people. If the left has a free hand to reform, it is primarily because it obtains a majority in the Assembly. Accommodating himself to the prerogatives of a presidential power that he did not have...