What voting instructions should be given in the event of an RN-LFI or triangular duel? The question is causing major headaches for the presidential camp, whose representatives have so far lost themselves in dodges, language elements or divisions when it has been submitted to them. It is about to be decided. According to our information, this very crucial and sensitive subject was at the heart of a new summit meeting which was held around Emmanuel Macron, this Tuesday afternoon, by video for an hour and devoted to the strategy of campaign in the home stretch of these anticipated legislative elections.
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According to a participant, the Head of State, in fact, opened the discussion with this thorny issue of the Republican barrier. Around the microphones and behind their screens, in addition to the president: the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal; the leaders of the Renaissance, MoDem, Horizons, UDI parties, Stéphane Séjourné, François Bayrou, Édouard Philippe, Hervé Marseille and the radical Laurent Hénart; the heavyweights of the government, Gérald Darmanin, Bruno Le Maire, Rachida Dati and the former president of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet. A rare thing in this period of daggers drawn in Macronie, a consensus has emerged between them!
“The real line is the Republican reflex”
Firstly to agree that there was a need for “a very strong and very clear line in the second round” – said one participant – in this matter. A doctrine, in short, in order to avoid floundering and tearing each other apart on Sunday, as was the case in 2022. Then, from the same source, “what emerged overall was to say that it was necessary a refusal of the extremes, RN and LFI”, “looking at what can be done when there is a risk of victory for the extremes”. In short, a call to the barrage in the event of a duel or a withdrawal in the event of a triangular. “This idea was generally shared around the table,” assures this witness to the scene.
Emmanuel Macron did not resolve this question (which must be resolved before Sunday) at the end of this exchange. But he continued to put the RN and the NFP back to back, criticizing “the fiscal ruin of the two programs, the LFI program, you just have to go to their simulator to see it! And the RN program, which conceals a hidden tax.”
Together, Séjourné, Bayrou and Philippe, nevertheless warned of the importance of examining constituencies “on a case by case basis”, imagining scenarios where the “Together” candidate would come third but would still have a chance of victory. “The real line is the Republican reflex. People see very clearly in a duel who is Republican and who is not,” said another participant.
Not sure that this is enough to silence the differences expressed from one end of the Macronist spectrum to the other. Because another line is being heard in the ranks. And it is expressed more strongly than ever, this Tuesday, with the participation of followers of the Head of State in a column published in “Le Monde”. Bringing together some 200 socialist, ecologist and macronist personalities, and co-signed by ex-ministers Clément Beaune, Agnès Pannier-Runacher and Stéphane Travert, it calls on the right, the center and the left to “clearly display from now on” that they will implement places a withdrawal agreement between the two rounds of the legislative elections against the RN. Even if it means supporting a candidate from the New Popular Front.
An internal fault line
“I have a deep hatred of LFI, but there is no question of letting the RN pass. We must not miss a single vote to beat the extreme right,” agrees a Renaissance candidate in the south of France. While another, much further north, choked up as he opened the evening daily: “It’s lunar!” » An internal fault line, a symptom of the divisions and differences of views which undermine the presidential camp.
Moreover, if there was no question of this text strictly speaking during the meeting on Tuesday, the Head of State launched this message, according to a participant: “I call for ‘unit. One bloc appears disunited, the New Popular Front, one bloc appears united, it is the National Rally. And we, in this context, cannot seem disunited. » A message… marked, while the senior officers connected this Tuesday have already started to settle their scores and distance themselves from him. Like this “good luck” launched in view of Tuesday’s debate to Gabriel Attal, who is also playing the emancipation card.
While the polls promise the worst, a relegation to third place, far behind the RN and the NFP, the presidential camp has no other choice but to tune in to the Republican roadblock. “Be careful, the bourgeoisie are in the process of ousting the National Rally,” warned Bruno Le Maire this Tuesday. Proof that the presidential camp cannot afford the luxury of divisions. Proof that it is not a given, this comment from a participant upon hearing the Minister of the Economy: “And he knows his way around the bourgeoisie!” ” Atmosphere.
