ABSTRACT
Jean-Paul Sartre: There is in this blackmail something very astonishing because it simply expresses what in a normal democratic system would be self-evident. It is perfectly obvious that if the percentage of abstentions and ‘no’ votes added the further problem of unpopularity to a policy that was already difficult to apply, the head of a democratic government might be obliged to resign. What he should not under any circumstances do is announce this in advance and use it as a threat as if it were exceptional conduct. De Gaulle, though, brings into play the charismatic, the sacred aspect of his personality.
