AAfter words, actions. Monday 1is In July, several dozen candidates from the former presidential majority withdrew in favour of a candidate from the New Popular Front (NFP), in an attempt to defeat the candidate from the National Rally (RN), and vice versa.
Emmanuel Macron, who strangely preferred to gather his ministers at the Elysée rather than express himself solemnly before the French people, clarified the line at midday, recalling that it was the extreme right which was on the verge of accessing the highest functions, and ” nobody else “. Following in the footsteps of his Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, the day before, he called, in a tense and icy atmosphere, for “not a voice” does not go to the extreme right, whereas before the first round, he was leaning towards a “Ni-ni” (neither RN nor La France insoumise).
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A 180 degree turn after putting the two back to back “extreme” throughout the campaign and highlighted the risk of ” civil war “ incurred in the event of a victory by one or the other. Mr. Macron had even attacked the NFP, reproaching it for its “immigrationism” or qualifying as“gross” some of his proposals, such as “free sex change at the town hall”.
This is not the first time that the President of the Republic has opportunely recalled the Republican front, for which he has not always been keen. In the 2021 regional elections, he pleaded for his candidates to decide “locally”. Focused on his enterprise of subjugating the Socialist Party and the Republicans (LR), he had for example wished that, in Hauts-de-France, the majority list – led by the Secretary of State Laurent Pietraszewski – would not withdraw, in order to “force agreement” the outgoing, Xavier Bertrand (LR).
Ultimately, the question did not arise, as La République en marche (LRM, now Renaissance) was not in a position to stay in the second round. At the time, MEP Stéphane Séjourné and government spokesperson Gabriel Attal had also buried the Republican front, arguing for list mergers rather than withdrawals. Facing them, the former head of LRM, Christophe Castaner, had called for clarity, and argued that Mr Macron and the outgoing majority would need the Republican front in the 2022 presidential election.
Change of foot
In fact, while the gap between Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron was narrowing, before the first round, the outgoing president needed to re-demonize his opponent, opportunely sent back to the “fundamentals” from the extreme right: “rejection of the Republic”, “anti-Semitism” et “xenophobia”He had also called for a rally “from social democracy to Gaullism”luck of “permanent republican front” against the extremes. And blamed journalists for having participated in the “trivialization” by Marine Le Pen. “I have heard less that she is far right. Twenty years ago, the media said “it’s terrible, Republican front”. There is no longer that reaction.”, he had regretted, without recalling that his own people had themselves contributed to this trivialization, Gérald Darmanin going so far as to denounce the “softness” by Mme The pen.
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