Legislative: Between alliances and dissidences, the campaign begins in France

The race against time to submit their candidacy ended on Sunday afternoon for candidates for the legislative elections in the 577 constituencies, at the end of a crazy week of negotiations, alliances and dissidences which shook up the political landscape.

Candidates had until 6 p.m. to go to the prefecture and register for the first round on June 30. The second will be held on July 7. The final lists have not yet all been made public by the parties.

But, a week after the earthquake of dissolution, everything is now sealed after several days of great confusion with the rallying of the Republican boss Éric Ciotti to the National Rally, local alliances between the right and the majority as well as dissident candidacies on the left .

Quatennens throws in the towel

On the left, the offer has been largely known since the formation of the New Popular Front which managed to agree in a few days on a program and candidates.

Barely reinvested by LFI, Adrien Quatennens, convicted of domestic violence in 2022, preferred to throw in the towel. He does not want his candidacy, which had created anger in the socialist and environmentalist ranks, “to be used” against the new union of the left.

But certain applicants retained by La France insoumise, such as the antifa Raphaël Arnault, registered “S”, in the first constituency of Vaucluse, arouse strong criticism.

Holland candidate

Another subject of tension, LFI refused to invest several historical figures critical of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s line, such as Danielle Simonnet, Raquel Garrido and Alexis Corbière, triggering new disapproval from socialists and ecologists.

Will the New Popular Front, which brings together anti-capitalist Philippe Poutou and former president François Hollande, be able to resist the heterogeneity of its components? Jean-Luc Mélenchon played appeasement on Sunday, notably on a candidacy for Matignon which many do not want.

“If you think I shouldn’t be prime minister, I won’t be. I will never be the problem,” he declared on France 3. The day after the surprise candidacy of former President François Hollande in Corrèze under the banner of the New Popular Front, former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin ( 1997 to 2002) also defended the new union, the only “dike”, according to him, capable of containing the far-right party.

Purchasing power

Stunned by the dissolution and left behind in the polls, the majority is threatened with coming in third position in a number of constituencies behind the RN and the left. To avoid this, she decided not to present a candidate in around twenty constituencies held by elected officials from the right, the left or the independent Liot group, considered constructive, AFP learned from reliable sources.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal unveiled on Saturday the first measures of the presidential camp’s program very targeted on purchasing power, promising in particular, in the event of victory, a reduction in electricity bills of 15% “from next winter” and an increase in the amount of the so-called “Macron” bonus, paid by companies to their employees.

Local alliances

On the right, the Republicans continue to tear themselves apart after the solitary choice of their president Éric Ciotti to ally with the National Rally. If the highly contested boss was not followed by the executives of his party – with the exception of a deputy and the president of the Young Republicans movement – ​​he indicated that he had 62 candidates “from the gathering of the rights” supported by the RN.

The anti-Ciotti LR branch, which is trying to maintain its voice, has for its part invested “nearly 400 candidates”, including Virgile Vanier in the Alpes-Maritimes against Éric Ciotti. Nicolas Sarkozy denounced the alliance formed with the RN, a strategic error in his eyes, because LR risks becoming a simple “supplement” of the far-right party.

On the far right, Éric Zemmour, despite his hostility to the RN, announced that Reconquête will not present a candidate in almost half of the constituencies to favor “the artisans of national unity” like Éric Ciotti and Nicolas Dupont -Aignan. According to an Elabe poll for BFMTV and “La Tribune” on Sunday, one in three French people want a victory for the RN, one in four for the left alliance and one in five for Renaissance.

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