Supporters of Emmanuel Macron have multiplied contradictory statements about the duels between Nupes and Rassemblement national for the second round of legislative elections, and provoked the anger of the left by not calling to block the far right. .as in the second round of the presidential election.
Imbroglio, Sunday evening, among supporters of Emmanuel Macron. The representatives of Ensemble!, the president’s coalition for the legislative elections, have multiplied the contradictory declarations as to the duels between Nupes and Rassemblement national for the second round. With a union of the left in the lead at 26% and Marine Le Pen’s party third at 19%, the current majority has not clearly called for blocking the far right, as had been done at the presidential… Mélenchon republican enough to have to call not to give a voice to the Rally but not enough for the presidential majority to do the same?
The controversy was launched by the voice of the Prime Minister. In her speech on Sunday evening, Elisabeth Borne denounced an “unprecedented confusion between the extremes” and sent the far left and far right back to back, without giving any voting instructions. Pushed by Nupes candidates and TV journalists to clarify their position, many representatives of the presidential camp kicked in, like government spokesperson Olivia Grégoire, a little embarrassed on France 2: “I think these are local debates. It’s not a national issue tonight.” This morning, on RTL, the latter apparently understood that this was a national issue. “Not a single voice” must go to the National Rally in the 58 duels which will oppose the Lepenist party and the Nupes left in the second round of the legislative elections, she urged. “In these specific cases, RN-Nupes, let’s be very clear: not a single voice for the National Rally. We have never lacked clarity on this subject (…), not a voice for a closure project, for a project that we do not consider good for the country, ”insisted the minister.
To read: Exclusive – Frédéric Dabi: “With such strong abstention, the death knell tolls for everyone”
“We have to wait to see the scenarios that will arise or not,” said Budget Minister Gabriel Attal on TF1. At the same time on BFMTV, Maud Bregeon, candidate Ensemble! in the Hauts-de-Seine, she resumed, around midnight past, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s instructions on the evening of the first round of the presidential election: “Not a voice should go to the National Rally” …
Maud Bregeon: “Not a voice should go to the National Rally” pic.twitter.com/5Lkp9uS8Ax
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) June 12, 2022
Anger on the left, while LREM flirts on the right
The official position of the party La République en Marche, given to AFP in the evening, also looked like a good balancing act. LREM will not give national instructions but “on a case-by-case basis” in the constituencies where Nupes and RN will oppose each other, evoking “a Republican Front, against the extremes”, arguing that “some Nupes candidates are extreme”, that “it will be according to the personality of the Nupes”. And to add: “But we will not support any RN candidate”.
These positions have aroused anger and misunderstanding on the left, while the majority has been able to castigate in the past the attitude of Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the face of LREM-RN duels, judging that he did not decide on clearly enough in favor of the “Republican” candidate. “Environmentalists mobilized massively to defeat Le Pen for the presidency. Hearing Olivia Grégoire and Gabriel Attal refuse to give an indication of a vote in the event of a #Nupes #RN duel is absolutely scandalous!” tweeted ex-ecologist presidential candidate Yannick Jadot. On France 2, the first secretary of the PS, Olivier Faure, judged “scandalous” the intervention of Elisabeth Borne, “when she now seeks to explain that there would be two extremes against which it would be necessary to fight (… ). Frankly, it smells a lot of panic.
Threatened to obtain only a relative majority in the Assembly, the coalition Ensemble! could turn to the Les Républicains party in the next legislature. Head of the LREM group in the Assembly, Christophe Castaner barely hid it on the France 2 set on Sunday evening, launching to the address of Rachida Dati: “We can disagree politically but we can work together. We can have convergences”. Convergences may be more difficult to find if the Macron camp frankly calls for voting for candidates from the left, even republican.