Should we have seen a sign there? Sunday June 9, at 6:38 p.m., the fire alarm sounded at the headquarters of the Les Républicains (LR) party, without the party’s new house burning down. Around 9 p.m., an alert surprised around fifty young activists gathered in a cramped press room. Live from the Elysée, Emmanuel Macron announces the dissolution of the National Assembly. Not far from there, at the LR headquarters located on Place du Palais-Bourbon, for a few minutes the rumor had been disturbing the tranquility of an election evening where we could even hear the clinking of a few glasses.
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As if relieved, the right toasted its survival in moderation. With a result of 7.2% in the European elections, for the list led by François-Xavier Bellamy, she thought she had saved the essentials: appearances and above all a group in the European Parliament with a score higher than 5%. A few minutes earlier, the candidate confirmed the good news on the telephone to Manfred Weber, president of an EPP (European People’s Party) group, worried about the situation of his French ally.
As a perfect philosopher, François-Xavier Bellamy tackles a paradox through rhetoric. Despite a result lower than that of his 2019 campaign and its 8.48%, a score then perceived as a catastrophe for LR, the candidate sees in “these European elections are the start of a long road to rebuilding the right”. When we predict the worst, we settle for the passable. “We’re not bragging, but we were promised to finish less than 5% and to be behind Reconquest! »summarizes Othman Nasrou, director of the LR campaign.
“We have no intention of allying”
If the path announced by Mr. Bellamy exists, his political party will have to take an unexpected and winding detour with legislative elections scheduled for June 30 and July 7. The relief of election night for a party forced to be modest since Valérie Pécresse’s 4.78% in the 2022 presidential election, was quickly followed by concern. If some young activists express their impatience to pound the pavement for three weeks, their president presents a more worried face.
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Around 9:30 p.m., Eric Ciotti returned to his party headquarters after his tour of television sets. “It is out of the question to enter into any form of alliance or coalition with a power which has put France in this state. The country has expressed a vote of opposition to the President of the Republic », he said in a brief speech. At his side, François-Xavier Bellamy also declined all outstretched hands from the majority: “We obviously have no intention of allying ourselves, of dissolving ourselves, of disowning ourselves. »
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