After the surprise announcement of the dissolution of the National Assembly by Emmanuel Macron on Sunday evening, political negotiations begin in view of the anticipated legislative elections on June 30 and July 7. On the left, discussions are being held to reach an agreement, while President LR Éric Ciotti announces an alliance with the RN leading to his exclusion from his party. Marion Maréchal is in turn excluded from Reconquête, accused of “treason” by Éric Zemmour.
Enough to inspire some writers of political series. Between attempts at agreement, accusations of “betrayal” and brutal splits, the political class has experienced a week full of twists and turns. Emmanuel Macron’s announcement on Sunday evening of the dissolution of the National Assembly was followed by the first discussions on the left, right and far right with a view to the legislative elections. While the left-wing parties reached an agreement, Les Républicains (LR) displayed their fractures in broad daylight, while Reconquête exploded.
• Sunday: the unexpected dissolution of the Assembly
Just one hour after the publication of the results of the European elections, Emmanuel Macron chose Sunday evening at 9 p.m. to address the French, a sign of the seriousness of the situation. In a short speech, the Head of State announced the dissolution of the National Assembly, a first since 1997.
This decision is intended to be an immediate response to the heavy defeat suffered by his camp, the list of the presidential majority winning only 14.60% of the votes, or less than half in comparison to the list of the National Rally, which triumphed with 31.36% of the votes.
A few minutes earlier, Emmanuel Macron announced his decision to his close guard at the Élysée. According to our information, Gabriel Attal tries to discourage the head of state and offers to resign, but the president refuses to change his mind.
The choice made by the Head of State de facto leads to the holding of early legislative elections, it is a real earthquake for the entire political class which must organize new elections in just three weeks.
Emmanuel Macron wants to be resolutely combative, “we are going there to win” he assures. But several Renaissance deputies tell BFMTV.com of a “risky bet” and fear that the National Rally will win a majority in the chamber.
• Monday: the parties return to the campaign, negotiations launched
The final count of votes in the European elections has barely been completed, each party must already plan for a new election and return to the campaign. In the Macronist camp, the newly arrived President of the Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet does not hesitate to voice her doubts regarding the dissolution. “There was another path, that of the coalition,” she judges on France 2.
On the far right, the RN, the big winner in the European elections, and Reconquête, which has crossed the symbolic 5% threshold allowing it to have representatives in Parliament, are starting discussions at the initiative of Marion Maréchal. The former head of the list of Eric Zemmour’s party expresses his “ardent wish” for a “rally of the rights” with a view to the legislative elections.
On the left too, negotiations are underway, at the call of the rebellious François Ruffin, followed by the socialist Olivier Faure and the communist Fabien Roussel. All are calling on their parties to unite by forming a “popular front” for the legislative elections.
After a meeting between the various left-wing figures, La France insoumise, Europe Écologie Les Verts, the French Communist Party, the Socialist Party, Place publique and Génération.s came to an agreement at the end of the day and agreed on the principle of ” support unique candidates from the first round” in the legislative elections.
• Tuesday: Ciotti in favor of an alliance with the RN
Thunderbolt from the right two days after the Europeans. President LR Éric Ciotti, a supporter of a hard line in his party, declares himself in favor of an “alliance” with the RN for the elections of June 30 and July 7. Never before in the history of the Fifth Republic has the Republican Right party led such an agreement with the far right.
This unexpected and individual position, although in the name of the party, created an uproar within the Republicans. Ulcerated, the head of LR senators Bruno Retailleau accuses the Alpes-Maritimes deputy of having “lied” and “betrayed” his party through “disloyalty”, while the boss of LR deputies Olivier Marleix asks for his resignation. The LR president of the Hauts-de-France region Xavier Bertrand, for his part, demands “a vote from all LR activists” on this agreement.
At the end of the day, Jordan Bardella confirms that an agreement has been reached between his party and LR and affirms that “dozens” of Republican elected officials will be “invested” or “supported” by his camp.
The alliance between RN and Reconquest, on the other hand, is taking a hit. The party chaired by Jordan Bardella refuses “the very principle of an agreement” due to too great differences with Éric Zemmour, according to Marion Maréchal. The latter speaks of a “great disappointment for France”.
For his part, Raphaël Glucksmann, in a position of strength after having collected 13.83% of the votes in the European elections, reiterated his desire not to renounce certain “principles” by allying with other left-wing parties, including LFI. The MEP defends in particular “support for European construction” and “military aid to the Ukrainian resistance”, subjects which are regularly the subject of dissension on the left.
Gabriel Attal, on reprieve as head of government, publicly breaks the silence on the current political upheavals. “I will carry out my duty as a citizen attached to his country who will give everything to avoid the worst,” he assures the deputies.
• Wednesday: Macron at press conference, Ciotti excluded from the Republicans
Three days after the announcement of the dissolution, Emmanuel Macron gave his first major press conference, during which he defended his decision. The Head of State invokes the “blockage (in the Assembly) which inevitably prevented the government from acting” due to lack of an absolute majority and the RN’s score in the European elections, “a major political fact that cannot be ignored”.
On the current political negotiations, the head of state castigates LR, accusing the right of “turning its back in a few hours on the legacy of General de Gaulle, Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy”, by entering into an agreement with the RN. He also points the finger at the left-wing alliance, the New Popular Front. “Léon Blum must be turning in his grave,” he exclaims.
On the right, LR is sinking into crisis. After the declarations of Eric Ciotti, calling for an alliance with the RN and speaking of “around 80” elected officials from his camp supported by the RN in the legislative elections, The Republicans urgently convened a political office to rule on its future.
But the deputy for Alpes-Maritimes refuses to abandon his post. He closed the LR headquarters during the day, citing “threats of disorder” and rejected the holding of a political office which “has no legal value”, according to him.
The political office finally took place, outside LR headquarters and without Éric Ciotti. His exclusion from the party was pronounced “unanimously”.
But the deputy for Alpes-Maritimes refuses the decision. “I am and I remain president,” he proclaims, while threatening his camp with criminal sanctions.
Illustration of the internal fractures at LR and the ambient cacophony, the party’s social networks do not defend the same line. When account Suspended for a few hours, account X was quickly reinstated.
On the far right, the divorce is definitively finalized between the two parties. Marion Maréchal, noting Jordan Bardella’s about-face with regard to Reconquest, chose to support her former camp and called on her voters to vote for the RN.
“Marion Maréchal is excluding herself from this party that she has always despised,” Eric Zemmour accuses her on BFMTV, saying he is “disgusted”.
• Thursday: the left union officially “sealed”
After reaching an agreement, the parties of the New Popular Front definitively formalized their alliance for the legislative elections by publishing a joint declaration. The union is “sealed”, they announce. “A page in the History of France is being written with this Popular Front,” welcomes Olivier Faure.
The union is welcomed by former President François Hollande. “What is essential is that the union was able to take place”, despite the “divergences”, he believes. Gabriel Attal, ex-socialist, for his part denounces an “agreement of shame” between his former party and LFI.
On the right, Éric Ciotti does not budge. Determined not to give up his position, he appears in the office of the party presidency in a video published on his social networks. “I am president of the party, I go to my office, that’s all,” he maintains.
From Italy where he is participating in the G7, Emmanuel Macron returns once again to the results of the European elections. “I took it for myself, for this majority! It didn’t make me happy, obviously it affected me,” he swears.
At the same time, aware of the unpopularity of the president and his suspended Prime Minister, certain Macronist candidates choose not to feature the image of Emmanuel Macron and Gabriel Attal on their electoral propaganda.
• Friday: the New Popular Front publishes its program, Ciotti finally maintained
Determined to turn the page on Eric Ciotti, LR is organizing a new political office on Friday morning during which he confirms the exclusion of the president from the party. This new meeting aims to “legitimize” the exclusion of Eric Ciotti thanks to the support of LR’s national advisors, while it is contested by the main interested party who invokes the “statutes of the party”.
At the end of the day, the Paris judicial court finally invalidated the decision of the LR political office, Éric Ciotti remained president of his party, a small victory for the deputy. However, his definitive exclusion is only suspended. The court indicates that the lower court must be seized “within eight days”. The soap opera is not over.
“It was obvious. I had no doubts, what was done was so crude,” greets Éric Ciotti. “Now for the countryside.”
At the RN, the alliance with LR is still on the agenda. Jordan Bardella assures on BFMTV that “in 70 constituencies in France, there will be a common RN-LR candidate”, including outgoing deputies, for the legislative elections.
Determined to move up a gear, the New Popular Front met at the Maison de la Chimie in Paris where it showed a united face, intended to contrast with the fractures affecting the right.
The leaders of the main parties, without Raphaël Glucksmann, present their program for the legislative elections. On the menu, among other things, the return of retirement at 60, the increase in the minimum wage to 1,600 euros net, but also “unwavering support for the Ukrainian resistance” with the refusal of any “military intervention by French troops on the ground”, the condemnation of the “terrorist massacres” committed in Israel by Hamas on October 7 and the “recognition of the State of Palestine”.
But at the end of the day, the image of union was already fractured, when at the end of the evening, LFI announced that it would invest in the legislative elections in Adrien Quatennens, convicted of domestic violence, but exclude several historical figures of the party, Alexis Corbière, Raquel Garrido and Danielle Simonnet.
Those mainly concerned do not hide their anger. “Shame on you Jean-Luc Mélenchon. It’s sabotage,” denounces Raquel Garrido, when Alexis Corbière sees it “a punishment for having voiced internal criticism.”
In addition to these disagreements, there also remains the question of the left-wing personality who could succeed Gabriel Attal in Matignon in the event of victory for the New Popular Front, which has not been resolved. Several figures have declared themselves interested, from Jean-Luc Mélenchon to François Roussel via François Ruffin.
Raphaël Glucksmann, who mentioned the name of former CFDT leader Laurent Berger at the start of the week, calms individual ambitions. “It will necessarily be the most consensual figure,” he believes. On condition again that the New Popular Front holds out until June 30.
