A week after the shock decision of French President Emmanuel Macron to dissolve the National Assembly, French voters discovered this Sunday evening, June 16, the final list of candidates for the legislative elections, at the end of negotiations which shook up the political landscape of the country.
5 mins
Applicants had until 6:00 p.m. (4 p.m. UT) to submit their declaration of candidacy in the 577 constituencies French for the legislative elections of June 30 and July 7, of which the National Rally (RN, far right) is the big favorite after having already triumphed in the European elections.
Dissident candidates on the left, local alliances between the right and the presidential majority, the rallying of part of the Republicans (LR, right) to the RN… Everything should now be known this Sunday evening after a week of confusion and the day after mobilizations against the extreme right, which brought together 250,000 people in the country (640,000 according to the CGT union).
On the left, the offer was already known since the hasty formation of the New Popular Front, an alliance ranging from anti-capitalist micro-parties to the former president of the social-democratic Republic François Hollande.
This coalition, which managed to agree in a few days on a common program despite fundamental differences, also received the support of the former socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin (1997-2002) who made it the only “dike” capable of containing the RN.
Read alsoLegislative elections in France: thousands of opponents of the far right mobilized in France
However, this Popular Front must still convince that it can resist the heterogeneity of its components and the crises which are already cracking its unity.
Dominant force on the left, France Insoumise (LFI, radical left) was accused of having engaged in a “purge” by refusing to reappoint elected officials who had criticized the personality and line of party boss Jean-Luc Mélenchon, divisive figure and former presidential candidate. “ Lifetime nominations do not exist », scathed the leader of the radical left on June 16, while being conciliatory on his candidacy for the post of Prime Minister, which many do not want. “ If you think I shouldn’t be Prime Minister, I won’t be “, he declared on the France 3 channel.
The left-wing coalition was also shaken by LFI’s desire to appoint someone close to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the outgoing MP. Adrien Quatennens, despite his sentence in 2022 to four months suspended imprisonment for domestic violence. Faced with the anger aroused by this announcement among LFI partners, Mr. Quatennens announced that he was abandoning his candidacy.
Read alsoLegislative elections in France: Mbappé “invites everyone to vote” and “hopes we will make the right choice”
In the camp of Emmanuel Macron, stunned by the dissolution and weakened in the polls after his debacle in the European elections, the time has come for remobilization under the leadership of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. On purchasing power, the first theme put forward by the French, the Prime Minister promised several measures on Saturday June 15 in the event of his camp’s victory: a reduction in electricity bills of 15%. from next winter » or an increase in the amount of the so-called “Macron” tax-free bonus, which companies can pay to their employees.
The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire warned against the increase in the monthly minimum wage to 1,600 euros net proposed by the left, which will, according to him, cause “mass unemployment”.
LR nominates a candidate against Eric Ciotti in Nice
On the LR side, after a chaotic week marked by the solitary choice of its president Eric Ciotti to ally with the RN, the party is trying as best it can to maintain a line independent of the executive as well as the far right. The Les Républicains party has already nominated a candidate against Éric Ciotti in Nice, Virgile Vanier, AFP learned from a member of the investiture committee.
The boss of the RN Jordan Bardella, who at 28 is aiming for the post of Prime Minister, announced that there would be “a common candidate” with the right “in 70 constituencies”. He also confirmed that he wanted to “eventually” privatize public broadcasting if his party came to power. Marie-Caroline Le Pen, sister of the leader of the deputies RN Marine Le Pen, announced on Sunday that she was a candidate for the legislative elections.
For his part, the president of Reconquête!, Eric Zemmour, announced the investiture of 330 candidates under the banner of his party in the legislative elections. “We would have liked to campaign in a true National Union, but the National Rally has repeatedly refused our proposal that so many French people are calling for,” he writes on XM Zemmour justifies the choice of not presenting candidates “only in 330 constituencies out of 577” by a desire to “not to harm other right-wing candidates engaged in this campaign”, specifying to have “refused to nominate candidates in front of the architects of national unity”, especially in the face of “Eric Ciotti, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, Christelle D’Intorni, Charles Prats and Guilhem Carayon”.
According to an Elabe survey for the BFMTV channel and the daily newspaper La Tribune Sundayone in three French people want a victory for the RN, one in four for the left alliance and one in five for Renaissance.
Read alsoLegislative elections in France: Gabriel Attal reveals the contours of the presidential majority campaign