(Paris) Four days before the first round of the legislative elections, the question of blocking the National Rally is posed to the presidential camp, which refuses to take a position before the first round, while the far right accuses the left of wanting to contest “in the rue” his victory announced.
The second round on July 7 is already on everyone’s minds. With an expected “significant participation”, which will lead to “a lot of triangulars”, the “Republican withdrawal could tip dozens of constituencies to the extreme right or not”, affirmed the head of the Ecologists Marine Tondelier.
In these conditions, “the instructions that the parties will give will count”, added the one who has already committed to withdrawing her candidates who came “in third position” on the evening of the first round. It is now up to the Macronist camp to do the same: “I will write today to the leaders of the parties of the presidential majority, I will even ask to see them because I want them to explain to me face to face why they don’t differentiate between the far right and the left,” she announced.
In fact, the “macronie” refuses to take a position before Sunday’s results. On Tuesday, the head of state, Emmanuel Macron, and the executives of his majority discussed the “campaign strategy” and seemed to be moving towards a slogan “neither RN nor LFI”, but “without the president decides” according to one participant.
The boss of Horizons, Edouard Philippe, was hardly more forthcoming on Wednesday. “I will have the opportunity to express myself extremely clearly on the subject in the evening and the day after the first round,” he declared, but not before so that it is not “the only thing we will be discussed in the final days of the campaign.”
On the contrary, he hoped that a “central space” – including part of the left and the right – would emerge as “an alternative” to the “pincer” between RN and LFI.
But already the tenor LR Xavier Bertrand has rejected the outstretched hand, instead defending “a fourth offer” to “avoid both the RN, the Popular Front and the Macronist status quo”.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal continues his long-distance race on the ground, to try to reduce the gap with the left and the far right, still favorite in the polls. The day after a first televised debate where he did not save his blows against his rivals Jordan Bardella (RN) and Manuel Bompard (LFI), the leader of the outgoing majority is expected in the afternoon in Indre-et -Loire, before a rally at the end of the day in his Hauts-de-Seine constituency.
On the left, the second round strategy is not unanimous. While the socialists and environmentalists have signed an appeal in favour of withdrawing to beat the RN, among the rebels “we will see on a case-by-case basis”, assured MEP Manon Aubry.
At the risk of fueling tensions within the New Popular Front, already divided on the hypothesis of sending Jean-Luc Mélenchon to Matignon in the event of a majority in the National Assembly. Himself a candidate for the post, the outgoing deputy François Ruffin considered that the rebellious patriarch was an “obstacle to the victory of the Popular Front”.
The Insoumis are themselves embroiled in quarrels with their former “purged” executives – Alexis Corbière, Raquel Garrido, Danielle Simonnet – accused of improperly using the party logo during the campaign. On Tuesday, the courts of Paris and Bobigny declared themselves incompetent on the issue.
Score-settling which contrasts with the serenity displayed by Marine Le Pen, from the top of her 36% voting intentions in the last IFOP poll published Tuesday, far ahead of the united left at 28.5% and the presidential camp at 21 %.
The far-right leader was still worried about the consequences of her announced victory: “If we win the legislative elections, then yes probably there will be demonstrations in the streets,” she predicted, accusing claims “the extreme left” is “responsible” for this.
A response to the words of Emmanuel Macron, who brought the “two extremes” back to back at the start of the week, affirming that the programs of the RN and the New Popular Front on the left would lead “to civil war”.
But nothing so far has seemed to break the dynamic of leader RN Jordan Bardella, nor his divisive proposal to prohibit certain “strategic” jobs for dual nationals, nor his fluctuations on pension reform.
Again Tuesday evening during the televised debate on TF1, the young contender for Matignon seemed to get confused about the starting age, evoking a legal age of 60, a “pivotal age” of 62 and a departure at 66 years for people who started working at age 24.
