Word to criticism, playing on contrasts, making fun of harsh judgments. This is how Jordan Bardella closes the lightning campaign, with a long wave of newspapers and weeklies with alarmed tones for the possible victory of the Lepenists in the “policies” that can trigger “cohabitation” (the president of one party, the head of government of another ) which has been missing in France since 1997-2002, since the time of Jospin-Chirac. Before the electoral silence, the prime minister in pectore targets the press with a series of videos: from L’Express which calls him a “mystifier” to Nouvel Obs which headlines “La République under siege”. “Journalists are starting to worry and in my opinion it’s a good sign,” he says, shaking off the label of black man at the gates of power. The scene is on social media. “Never been so close to victory.” Final thrust, in a climate that even the 007s consider alarming.
The latest message from the 28-year-old child prodigy of a right that fewer and fewer people now consider “extreme” is on par with the chats of leftist militants who predict mass mobilizations in the event of triumph. Marine Le Pen herself expects street protests if the National Rassemblement wins today’s first round: “There wouldn’t be a demonstration if the opposite happened,” she says, highlighting the differences with Mélenchon’s far left which dominates the field opponent. The appetizer was in Paris on the evening of the European elections, 9 June, when Macron then dissolved the Assembly, triggering those political upheavals that led to de facto tripolarism. Very short campaign, 20 days, Lepenists committed to showing the institutional face of normalization, and finally accredited in that republican arc by the president of the neo-Gaullists, with whom they formed an alliance. Together they could have an absolute majority in the second round on July 7.
Even with Macron at the Elysée, who does not want to hear talk of resignation, and without abandoning his intentions on immigration and foreigners, and even confirming limitations on access to strategic positions in the Defense for “binationals”, the RN calls together “the French” to avoid talking about a halved victory. The polls put the Rn in the lead. However, the left bloc gained half a point in a week. While the war “at the extremes” of the Macronian majority is in such trouble that some candidates are already hypothesizing white help to the left in possible runoffs.
Outgoing Prime Minister Attal is hoping for a spark, calling on Instagram to vote “with an open heart for the République and against the extremes” and “for those who refuse to pit the French against each other, to unite rather than divide.” His and Macron’s coalition has been renamed Ensemble: a liberal center glued to an unresolved program. Also looking for a seat is former Socialist President Hollande, a surprise candidate in the new puzzle of the gauche renamed the Popular Front. It would be the first time that a former tenant of the Elysée returns to the chamber as a deputy.
In his historic constituency of Corréze, Macron chose to support a candidate from the Républicains who did not embrace the alliance with the lepenists. Hollande gave him back his own back, criticizing the gamble: “He should have taken his time, consulted, established proportional representation to allow for recomposition and only then dissolved the Assembly.”
