text: In 1981 Mitterrand defeated the incumbent conservative , ValÃ ry Giscard d'Estaing , to become the first socialist of the Fifth Republic to be elected President of France by universal suffrage .
simplified: In 1981 Mitterrand defeated the conservative , ValÃ ry Giscard d'Estaing , to become the first socialist elected President of France by universal suffrage .