Philippe Grangeon, former advisor to Emmanuel Macron and former boss of En Marche, alerted his camp on Friday against “the perilous temptation of neither RN nor LFI”, pleading for “clear instructions” on the evening of the first round of legislative elections in favor of all “the candidates who will oppose” the RN.
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“I want to alert my political family against the perilous temptation of Ni-ni (neither RN nor LFI). This ambiguous political choice could indeed, in the current dynamic, favor the accession of the National Rally to power,” writes Philippe Grangeon in a column addressed to AFP.
For this co-founder of En Marche, who comes from social democracy, “placing the extreme right and La France Insoumise, which is only part of the New Popular Front coalition, on an equal footing is dangerous.”
He argues that beyond the Insoumis, whose radical ideas, the anti-Semitic excesses of certain leaders and their permanent outrageousness he “does not share in any way”, the left-wing alliance is also “composed of socialists, environmentalists and communists, the vast majority of whose political leaders are respectable women and men”.
“Clear instructions”
While the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron has still not publicly decided on the position of the presidential camp on Sunday evening of the first round, but he seems to be moving towards a slogan “neither RN nor LFI”, Philippe Grangeon pleads for “without arguing” the majority to give “clear instructions”.
Namely that “in cases where its candidates are not qualified for the second round, they will have to call for votes for the candidates who oppose the National Rally. When they appear in three-way races where their continued participation could result in the far-right candidate winning, they will have to withdraw.”
To support his argument, Philippe Grangeon, who was Emmanuel Macron’s special advisor between 2019 and 2020, calls in particular to keep “in mind that on two occasions, in 2017 and in 2022, all the Republican political forces called to vote in favor of Emmanuel Macron or to block Marine Le Pen”. Above all, Philippe Grangeon is looking ahead. In the event of an absolute majority for the RN, “the opposition political forces will then have to dialogue and reach an agreement (…)”.
And in the event that none of the three blocs has this absolute majority, “it would then be possible and desirable to form a coalition of women and men of good will to govern the country.” “But this hypothesis is based on an imperative condition: that the presidential majority clearly indicates to its voters that the main political adversary in the second round is the National Rally,” he insists.
Another historic walker joined Philippe Grangeon’s position on Friday: “I cannot be satisfied with a nuanced response, neither-nor, to a situation which is without nuance”, wrote the president of the SOS group Jean-Marc Borello on LinkedIn. According to this executive of the presidential party close to Emmanuel Macron, “the enemy” “is the extreme right”. “Whatever it costs us, and whatever the alternative, let’s vote against the extreme right,” he insisted.
