 Soustelle's successor, Governor General Lacoste, a socialist, abolished the Algerian Assembly.Lacoste saw the assembly, which was dominated by "pieds-noirs", as hindering the work of his administration, and he undertook the rule of Algeria by decree.He favored stepping up French military operations and granted the army exceptional police powers—a concession of dubious legality under French law—to deal with the mounting political violence.