Edouard Philippe’s party, Horizons, could lose big in these legislative elections. The results of the vote will weigh on the ambitions of the former Prime Minister.
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23:54 – Edouard Philippe: “great uncertainty” and a call for an agreement from the “central” forces
Shortly after the announcement of the results of the second round of the legislative elections, Edouard Philippe reacted. The leader of the Horizons party “regretted” that the dissolution of the National Assembly had “led to great uncertainty”. According to him, the “absence of a government would expose “France and the French to formidable dangers”, pushing the political forces to find an agreement to govern. “This agreement will not be sustainable. At best, it will allow the country to be managed, but not to build an ambitious alternative”, he judged, excluding RN and LFI from this agreement. “We must listen to the country”, he concluded.
21:14 – Edouard Philippe speaks out in favor of a government agreement with other parties
Speaking to BFM TV, Edouard Philipep reacted to the result of these legislative elections, pointing out the fact that “none of the political blocs in the Assembly has a majority on its own to govern. The dissolution of the Assembly, which was supposed to be a clarification, has instead led to great uncertainty.” He is now in favor of a government agreement with other parties, believing that “the central political forces have a responsibility that they cannot ignore. They must, without compromise, promote the creation of an agreement that will stabilize the political situation.”
21:12 – The outgoing MP from Le Havre largely re-elected
The Horizons candidacy having failed to qualify for the second round of the legislative elections, Edouard Philippe had called for blocking the RN and voting in favor of the communist candidate Jean-Yves Lecoq. The outgoing deputy, invested by the NFP, largely won ahead of the RN with 63.08% of the votes. The former Prime Minister had justified his choice in favor of his political opponent: “I am not doing it lightly, I am not doing it in agreement with him, I am not doing it because I politically support his positions… He is my opponent, he tried to beat me in the last municipal elections. I am doing it because I prefer an elected official that I know, with whom I work in the interest of Le Havre, even with differences.”
19:35 – Edouard Philippe no longer in contact with Macron?
Invited to the TF1 morning show between the two rounds, Edouard Philippe reaffirmed his independence from the president. “There has never been much contact, neither before nor since the dissolution. There are conversations where I have always been loyal to the president. There is little contact and it doesn’t matter, the President of the Republic is busy,” he replied regarding his relations with Emmanuel Macron.
Asked what he would expect from the head of state after the elections, the leader of Horizons simply replied: “I will never ask anything else from a president of the Republic than to be president of the Republic. It is a considerable mission that the French people have entrusted to him. He must be president of the Republic in all circumstances, including after the second round of a legislative election, including in the event that the majority that results from the ballot boxes does not suit him or is not aligned with what he believes.”
6:30 p.m. – Edouard Philippe announced his vote for the communist candidate in Le Havre
In the 8th constituency of Le Havre, where Edouard Philippe is voting, the second round of the legislative elections pits the communist Jean-Yves Lecoq, who came out on top last Sunday, against the RN candidate Isabelle Le Coz. Edouard Philippe has made his choice public: “I will vote for a communist candidate,” he declared on TF1 on Wednesday. “I am not doing it lightly, I am not doing it out of agreement with him, I am not doing it because I politically support his positions,” Edouard Philippe clarified: “I am doing it because I prefer an elected official that I know, with whom I work in the interest of Le Havre, even with differences.”
17:49 – Edouard Philippe’s popularity remains constant
Edouard Philippe’s popularity rating soared in his final months at Matignon, in the midst of a pandemic, while the Prime Minister managed to embody a reassuring figure. Since then, Edouard Philippe has sailed at the top of all the popularity rankings of political figures, well above Emmanuel Macron. The Elabe barometer of June still credited him with 42% favorable opinions.
17:02 – Edouard Philippe, Macronists’ favorite candidate for the 2027 presidential election
Several polls have shown that the mayor of Le Havre was best placed to try to beat the National Rally in 2027. An I-Fiducial study for Le Figaro, published on April 25, credited Marine Le Pen with 34% of the vote in the first round and Edouard Philippe with 24%. In the second round, Le Pen was credited with 51% and Philippe with 49%. The former Prime Minister thus did better than the current occupant of Matignon, Gabriel Attal, credited with 47% of voting intentions in the event of a duel against Marine Le Pen. However, these are polls conducted three years before the election, when no candidate has officially declared. These assumptions should therefore be taken with great caution. Furthermore, the Ipsos barometer of political figures in June placed Edouard Philippe at the top of the ranking of favorites to access the presidency, with 36% favorable opinions.
16:59 – When was Edouard Philippe Prime Minister?
Edouard Philippe was the first head of government appointed by Emmanuel Macron: he took office on May 15, 2017, while he was still officially a member of the Les Républicains party. His term was shaken by the yellow vest crisis, by a first stormy attempt at pension reform and then by the Covid-19 pandemic. He left office on July 3, 2020, in the middle of deconfinement, to be replaced by Jean Castex.
16:10 – Edouard Philippe voted this Sunday in his stronghold of Le Havre
While awaiting the results of this second round of legislative elections and their impact on his Horizons movement three years before a 2027 presidential election where the former Prime Minister is an unofficial candidate, Edouard Philippe went to his polling station in Le Havre this Sunday, July 7. The mayor of Le Havre greeted several of his constituents before queuing in front of the polling station and then slipping his envelope into the ballot box.
15:55 – What are Edouard Philippe’s voting instructions for the second round of the legislative elections?
“For the second round, I call for voting, of course, for the Horizons, Renaissance and MoDem candidates who are still in the running,” Edouard Philippe logically declared last Sunday, at the end of the first round of the legislative elections. “Failing that,” Edouard Philippe called for voting for candidates ranging “from the social-democratic, ecologist and communist left, to the liberal and conservative right, beyond real and assumed differences.” On the other hand, he clearly assumed, “no vote should be cast for the candidates of the National Rally or those of La France Insoumise, with whom we diverge not only on programs, but on fundamental values.”
What is the result of the legislative elections for Horizons? The situation is serious for Édouard Philippe’s party, which is not even assured of being able to form a parliamentary group in the National Assembly after the second round of elections. A disappointment for the former Prime Minister, who has nevertheless positioned himself, in recent weeks, to play a strategic role in the political restructuring of the coming months.
“Everything needs to be rebuilt on the right and the centre. I am ready for it,” declared Édouard Philippe last Sunday, a few minutes after the results of the first round of the legislative elections were announced, during a speech delivered live from Le Havre. For several weeks, Édouard Philippe has been at the forefront and no longer hesitates to draw his own line, even if it means distancing himself from Emmanuel Macron, whose decision to dissolve the Assembly he did not approve of. It must be said that this dissolution could cost his party, Horizons.
Less than 50 candidates in the second round
In the old Assembly, the Horizons group had 30 deputies and one related party. There were 82 candidates from Édouard Philippe’s party running in the first round of the 2024 legislative elections. After last Sunday’s results, only 50 qualified for the second round. Several withdrew, in accordance with the instructions given by the presidential coalition in the three-way races to block the RN.
The rule in the Assembly is that a parliamentary group must have at least 15 members. Will Horizons be able to form a group? The polls released before the end of the election campaign do not allow us to be sure. However, let us remember that these projections do not in any way prejudge the result of the second round of the legislative elections, released this Sunday evening from 8 p.m.
Building in the “central space”
Aware that the head of state had provoked anger by dissolving the National Assembly, his former Prime Minister did not hesitate to send him a few barbs during the campaign: “It was the President of the Republic who killed the presidential majority,” he recalled on June 21 on TF1. “He dissolved it. It wasn’t me who left, it wasn’t rebels who would have annoyed him,” he insisted. A way of absolving himself of any responsibility in this controversial decision by the Elysée. And of cushioning, if possible, the rout predicted for the Macronists on July 7.
Very quickly, Édouard Philippe became the champion of a coalition of the republican forces of the center. “To those who are outside the majority, we must say: let’s build a project together in the interest of the country,” he declared on RTL shortly after the dissolution, saying he was ready to work “with all the political forces within the central bloc.” “There are in the central space, from the conservative right to the social democratic left, a very large number of French people who want to build an alternative, who want to constitute a new parliamentary majority that is more stable, more solid, more open too,” he maintained on June 27, during a meeting in Montpellier.
In his post-results speech last Sunday, Édouard Philippe did not fail to clarify the limits of the democratic bloc as he sees it: “No votes should be cast for the RN candidates, nor for those of LFI,” he urged. An instruction even more uncompromising with the rebels than that of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. The former head of government continues to draw his own line, with the day after the elections and the possibility of a coalition government already in mind. Enough to make him dream of a return to Matignon?