The campaign for early legislative elections in France officially starts today. And there is a surprise, it is the return of François Hollande, who is a candidate in his former constituency, in Corrèze. Is this a symbolic gesture against the far right or is it a real attempt to return to power?
Saturday, on the Tulle market in Corrèze, it felt like an episode of Back to the Future: François Hollande shaking hands, blowing kisses, like when he was deputy mayor of the city. He represented his constituency for 20 years. His re-election should not pose a problem. Especially since Emmanuel Macron’s party has decided not to oppose him.
Officially, he made this choice to block the way for Marine Le Pen’s party. On Saturday, he summoned the local press to which he declared: “In an exceptional situation, an exceptional decision. Never has the extreme right been so close to power since the Liberation”.
But it is difficult to imagine François Hollande becoming just a rank-and-file deputy in the National Assembly, or even once elected, abandoning his mandate to his deputy to return to his plow like Cincinnatus. Despite his good-natured appearance, he is a political beast who grew up in the shadow of François Mitterrand, from whom he learned a lot.
According to several leaks orchestrated by his entourage, he never digested the fact of not being able to run for president in 2017. And since then, he has been waiting for a window of opportunity for his comeback.
This is not a first. In the history of France, there have been two famous precedents: Raymond Poincaré, President of the Republic from 1913 to 1920, who was elected senator just after his mandate and became head of government twice, between 1922 and 1924, then between 1926 and 1929. But it was another era. Under the Third Republic, the Prime Minister had more power than the President.
Closer to us, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, beaten in 1981 by Mitterrand, but who, from 1984, stood for local elections. He became a deputy, president of the Foreign Affairs Commission and led the Auvergne region for 18 years, but without managing to return to the Élysée.
So, could we imagine Emmanuel Macron appointing François Hollande Prime Minister in the event of a victory for the left? It would be weird, two crocodiles in the same backwater. Or, does the ex-president hope to play the role of a strong voice in the Assembly in the hope of rebuilding his image and becoming, in 2027, his successor’s successor? He probably dreams of it. But as the philosopher Chamfort said, “One cannot be and have been”.
Francois Hollande
