The government of Emmanuel Macronthreatened by the prospect of a historic defeat in the legislative elections that the president of Francehas thrown itself fully into the battle for the campaign with candidacies from 24 of its members.
Once the deadline for submitting candidatures has ended this Sunday at 6:00 p.m. local time (4:00 p.m. GMT), a part of the Executive’s heavyweights aspire for a seat in the next National Assembly,starting with the prime minister, Gabriel Attal.
There are also the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin,that of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné,the head of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau,that of Health, Frédéric Valletoux,or that of Tourism and Consumption, Olivia Gregoire.
Some great figures do not appear on the lists, in particular the head of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire,which has been ‘number two’ in the Executive’s practice since Macron conquered the Elysée in 2017.
Le Maire explained that he had promised a long time ago that he would not be a deputy for more than three terms and that it is “a man of word”.
Nor will the Minister of Defense compete for a seat, Sebastien Lecornu,that of Justice, Eric Dupond-Morettia la of Culture, Rachida Data,who until his entry into Macron’s Executive at the end of January was a prominent figure in The Republicans (LR, the traditional right-wing party).
Very adverse scenario for the Macronist camp
This avalanche of members of the Government on the electoral lists illustrates the desire to use notoriety to turn around the polls in the elections that will be held on June 30 and July 7.
These polls prelude a victory for the extreme right of the National Group (RN), who could obtain more than 30% of the votes in the first round, followed by the new Popular Front which brings together the left-wing parties, which would obtain 25-28%, and behind them the Macronist bloc, with less than 20%.
From there, the question would be how this translates in the second round in the distribution of the 577 deputies, who are elected in single-member constituencies.
The agreement creating the Popular Front has established the distribution of candidates among the four groups that make it up: The Rebellious France (LFI) of Jean-Luc Mélenchon has been left with 229, the Socialist Party (PS) with 175, the Ecologists with 92 and the French Communist Party (PCF) con 50.
Mélenchon is not a candidate and, although last Wednesday he said he was willing to be prime minister if the left won, this Sunday, given the unrest generated by his personality in the other parties of the coalition and even in a part of his own, he assured that “Never” will be a problem, implying that he will put aside his ambitions.
The leaders of the other parties of the Popular Front do appear on the lists, the PS, Olivier Faurethat of the Ecologists, Marine Tondelier (although as a substitute), and that of the PCF, Fabien Roussel.
Hollande, invested in his former electoral fiefdom
The former president of the Republic has also been invested by the PS Francois Hollande (he was in the Elysée from 2012 to 2017) in his former electoral fiefdom of Corrèze, and that despite his repeated clashes with Faure and his past criticism of any alliance with LFI.
Under pressure from his partners in the Popular Front and even from many voices in LFI, the outgoing deputy resigned his candidacy. Adrien Quatennenswhose presence was controversial considering that he had been sentenced in 2022 to four months in prison exempt from compliance for hitting his wife.
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Regarding the controversial pact signed this week between the National Group (RN) of Marine Le Pen and the president of LR, Eric Ciottibehind the backs and against the will of most of the leaders of the latter party, it is still too early to fully evaluate its scope.
This agreement provides that the RN does not present candidates in 70 constituencies in which it will request the vote for a candidate chosen by the LR faction that has swung with Ciotti. But it doesn’t seem like there are big LR names in those constituencies.
Furthermore, the LR bloc that has denounced the alliance with the RN has chosen to present candidacies that compete with those proposed by Ciotti. Ciotti himself will have an opponent of LR in his constituency of the city of A string.