An important point of controversy is if the purpose of the Madrid attacks were to force a Socialist victory; at issue as well was that, if that was the case, whether they succeeded in altering the final result.

The post of Mayor of Athens has, in the past, proved a portent of national upheaval, since a Socialist mayoralty here preceded the Socialist national victory in 1981.

Labor unions would take a Socialist victory as a sign that further changes were unnecessary.

On 9 to 12 June 1994, the fourth European elections were held resulting in a Socialist victory.

As it tries to stave off a Socialist landslide in parliamentary elections this month, Mr. Barre goes around saying a Socialist victory is inevitable -"in the logic of the institutions of the Fifth Republic."

Faced with a Socialist victory in France and an unusual domestic spat between the German Government and the central bank, currency traders headed for safe harbors today.

City Hall was the scene of the largest Socialist victory ever registered in an American city, when in 1910 Emil Seidel and a majority Socialist Common Council swept into office.

Miss Doi declares that a Socialist victory will send a message to Tokyo, and Mr. Kaifu argues that the Socialists are distorting what he proposed.

The daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung warned on Tuesday, as Chancellor Helmut Kohl met here with Mr. Chirac, that a Socialist victory in the French elections would produce tensions in the French-German relationship.

"We are on the verge of an event that is going to astound Europe and raise magnificent hopes in Europe," Mr. Jospin said this week, meaning that a Socialist victory would breathe new hope into the left all over the Continent.