Former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and François Bayrou, two supporters of Emmanuel Macron and pillars of the majority, warn against the idea of a victory already acquired in the second round of the outgoing president, in two interviews with Le Figaro and at the Republic of the Pyrenees, Monday. “Nothing seems to me to be played because many unknowns weigh on the ballot, starting with abstention”, warned the former Prime Minister in Le Figaro.
“The Republican front is no longer a natural reflex”
“Obviously, the Republican front is no longer a natural reflex, no doubt out of weariness. It has decreased in intensity but I do not believe in its disappearance”, added the mayor Horizons of Le Havre, insisting however: “return back to back Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron, it’s irresponsible. Just like sending the instruction ‘not a voice to Marine Le Pen’, which obviously leaves the door open to all abstentions”. For François Bayrou, High Commissioner for Planning and Modem Mayor of Pau, “at this stage, the two candidates can win. Anything can happen, by definition”.
“We have already seen people make choices that with the eyes of the historian we find foolish. But it can happen. As for the Republican front, I do not believe in the front but I believe in the Republicans”, analyzes François Bayrou. According to Ipsos and Ifop polls released on Monday, Emmanuel Macron would win by 56% for the first and 54.5% for the second, Sunday against Marine Le Pen in the second round of the presidential election.
“Avoid Marine Le Pen being elected”
Edouard Philippe called on Emmanuel Macron’s supporters to focus on the victory of the president-candidate rather than on the political structuring of a hypothetical future majority. “All of this seems to me to be furiously part of the fable of Perette and the Milk Pot. I strongly recommend that everyone devote themselves to the campaign to prevent Marine Le Pen from being elected”, he said. Quoting François Bayrou, with whom relations have not always been good, Edouard Philippe, invited to comment on the idea of a large unitary bloc of the majority, recalled an adage from the president of the Modem: “if we all think the same thing is that we don’t think anything.”
He also judged that the pension reform “deserves to be dealt with very early at the start of the next five-year term”. In the Republic of the Pyrenees, François Bayrou mentioned two imperatives, “unity” and “pluralism”. “The idea of a single party has never convinced me. (…) To believe that everyone thinks the same thing would be doomed to accident, to failure”, he commented.