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- 1932- . French conservative politician, prime
- minister 1974-76 and 1986-88. He established
- the neo-Gaullist Rassemblement pour la
- Republique (RPR) 1976, and became mayor of
- Paris 1977. Chirac held ministerial posts
- during the Pompidou presidency and gained the
- nickname `the Bulldozer'. In 1974 he became
- prime minister to President Giscard
- d'Estaing, but the relationship was uneasy.
- Chirac contested the 1981 presidential
- election and emerged as the National Assembly
- leader for the parties of the right during
- the socialist administration of 1981-86.
- Following the rightist coalition's victory
- 1986, Chirac was appointed prime minister by
- President Mitterrand in a `cohabitation'
- experiment. The term was marked by economic
- decline, nationality reforms, and student
- unrest. Student demonstrations in autumn 1986
- forced him to scrap plans for educational
- reform. He stood in the May 1988 presidential
- elections and was defeated by Mitterrand, who
- replaced him with the moderate Socialist
- Michel Rocard.
-