Three days before the early legislative elections, a second televised debate must take place this Thursday, June 27 in the evening on France 2. As the first act approaches, the left-wing parties rallied, Wednesday, to the idea of withdrawal from the second round to block the National Rally, increasingly confident in its victory and which issued a warning on the distribution of powers over defense and diplomacy in the event of cohabitation. For his part, the President of the Senate Gérard Larcher was alarmed by “the risk of institutional crisis” in France, in an interview with Parisian.
Information to remember
⇒ Eric Ciotti is counting on LR deputies if the RN does not obtain the majority
⇒ For Gérard Larcher, “Macron shrivels democracy”
⇒ Marine Le Pen: the head of the armed forces, an “honorary” title
Ciotti is counting on LR deputies if the RN does not obtain the majority
Éric Ciotti declared on Wednesday that he was convinced that LR deputies would join him if the RN and its party do not obtain an absolute majority. “Yes, of course, I think there are some who we will join, who will not make a mistake in fighting,” Eric Ciotti said on CNews, asked about the possibility that right-wing deputies would give him their support if the RN did not obtain a majority in the legislative elections.
“I do not imagine that some of my friends would join a coalition which would include communists, socialists and the friends of Mrs Sandrine Rousseau”, affirmed the one whom the LR leadership has been trying to exclude from the presidency of the party since its alliance with the RN.
Gérard Larcher calls for a solution to end the crisis
He still seems to have in his throat the “one minute and a half” phone call from Emmanuel Macron, on Sunday June 9, to warn him of his decision to dissolve the National Assembly. The President of the Senate Gérard Larcher, who had already said on Tuesday that he feared an “institutional crisis”, once again tackles President Emmanuel Macron, accusing him of “shrivelling democracy” and playing with fire, in an interview At Parisian published this Wednesday, June 26.
“There is an incredible divide in our country […] I call for responsibility: can the President of the Republic let the end of the campaign take place without blowing on the embers every two days with a declaration?”, worries the President of the Senate, who calls on the Head of State to find a solution to emerge from the crisis that he himself triggered
“I do not believe that a president should publicly imply, in the midst of a crisis, that he would not hold the country if the French voted for the extremes.” Gérard Larcher warns that in the event of a duel between RN and New Popular Front, he will vote blank.
Le Pen: the head of the armies, an “honorary” title
The leader of the RN deputies specified in an interview with Telegram Wednesday, June 26, his vision of the distribution of powers concerning defense and diplomacy in the event of cohabitation with Emmanuel Macron. “Chief of the armed forces, for the president, it is an honorary title since it is the Prime Minister who holds the purse strings […] Jordan Bardella has no intention of picking a fight with him, but he has set red lines. On Ukraine, the president will not be able to send troops,” an option he had refused to rule out, she added.
During the three previous cohabitations of the Fifth Republic, the president had retained broad powers in matters of international policy and defense, in the name of an interpretation of the Constitution granting a “reserved domain” to the head of state.
“No doctrine” for the second round says Gabriel Attal
Faced with the polls still favorable to the RN, the second round of July 7 is already on everyone’s minds: when a Republican candidate is opposed to a candidate from the National Rally, EELV and the PS will support the Republican candidate, they announced Tuesday 26 June.
“We will do it without any expectation, without any expected compensation”, added the boss of the PS, Olivier Faure, on 8 p.m. on TF1, inviting the Macronists to “return the favor” of the calls for a Macron vote that he had launched in the second rounds of the last two presidential elections.
“There has not yet been a first round, so by definition there is no doctrine,” Prime Minister Gabriel Attal indirectly replied to them, on the sidelines of a trip to Parçay-Meslay (Indre-et-Loire).
Tuesday, the head of state and the executives of his majority seemed to be moving towards a slogan “neither RN, nor LFI” during a videoconference, distinguishing the movement of Jean-Luc Mélenchon from the other parties of the left alliance. A participant, however, assured that the president had not “decided”.
The boss of Horizons, Edouard Philippe, for his part reserved his position for the evening and the day after the first round, saying he hoped that a “central space”, including part of the left and the right, would be necessary. as “an alternative” to the “pincer” between RN and LFI.
LFI will give instructions “on a case-by-case basis”
But on the left, the second round strategy also gave rise to some hesitation. The rebels will see “on a case by case basis”, warned LFI MEP Manon Aubry before the leader of the movement Jean-Luc Mélenchon became more categorical.
“No Insoumis voter, I am certain, will never give their vote to the National Rally. And we will tell them that no one has to do this stupidity, whatever their motive,” he declared on LCI, specifying that voting instructions would be given on Sunday evening after the first round of voting.
New televised debate this Thursday evening
After a first face-to-face on Tuesday, June 25, the second and final debate before the first round will be held on France 2 this Thursday, June 27 in the evening. On the side of the majority and the National Rally, the casting does not change: it will still be Gabriel Attal and Jordan Bardella who will come to defend their movement. After Manuel Bompard (LFI), this time it will be Olivier Faure (PS) who will come to defend the candidacy of the New Popular Front.
The RN still at the top of the polls
Stable: voting intentions for the candidates of the National Rally (36%), the left-wing alliance New Popular Front (28.5%) and the Macronist presidential majority (21%) in the first round of the legislative elections did not vary since Tuesday, according to the daily survey carried out by Ifop-Fiducial for LCI, Le Figaro and Sud Radio.
Another survey, conducted by Harris Interactive – Toluna for Challenges, M6 and RTL, gives comparable scores: 37% for the lepenists, 27% for the NFP and 21% for the macronie, the first two being stable in two days, the last one winning a point.