9:02 p.m., Sunday June 9. France falls into a dizzying unknown, after the presidential announcement of the dissolution of the National Assembly. Since then, the campaign has been in full swing to elect the 577 deputies who will make up the National Assembly and who will shape the future majority that will govern the country.
This Thursday, June 27, the majority and the National Rally engaged in a skirmish around the “reserved domain” of the President of the Republic on international and military issues. Gabriel Attal refuses to establish a “doctrine” before the first round for the triangulars and the voting instructions. The number of proxies exceeded two million, more than for the 2022 presidential election.
Today’s skirmish: Macronie and the RN are fighting over the President’s “reserved domain”
“Chief of the armed forces, for the president, it is an honorary title since it is the Prime Minister who holds the purse strings.” The words are those of Marine Le Pen, in a newspaper interview The Telegram. “Jordan has no intention of picking a quarrel with him, but he has set red lines. On Ukraine, the president will not be able to send troops,” she continues.
This statement caused a stir in the presidential camp. François Bayrou considered that Marine Le Pen was “profoundly calling into question the Constitution” with this “extremely serious” assertion. “The Constitution is not honorary,” said the current Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu. Quoting General de Gaulle, he recalled that “the president is, in fact, guarantor […] of the independence and integrity of the country, as well as the treaties which bind it”.
Article 15 of the Constitution states that “the President of the Republic is the head of the armed forces. He chairs the councils and higher committees of national defense”. But a few lines further down, in article 20, the basic law also ensures that the Prime Minister “is responsible for national defense” and “appoints civil and military posts”. The president does have very significant powers over questions of defense and foreign policy, in the name of what is sometimes called his “reserved domain”. But it is above all the practice and past experiences of cohabitation which have confirmed its priority on the management of these subjects vis-à-vis the government, more than the law. A use to which the National Rally could well return, in the event of cohabitation with Emmanuel Macron.
Marine Le Pen, however, wanted to clarify her position on the social network X (formerly Twitter). “Without calling into question the reserved domain of the President of the Republic, in matters of sending troops abroad, the Prime Minister has, through budgetary control, the means of opposing it. Jordan Bardella was therefore justified in recall that he is opposed to sending French soldiers to Ukraine”. The tone is in any case set: a potential cohabitation between Emmanuel Macron and the National Rally will not be a courteous understanding, whatever the subjects.
Today’s strategy: the presidential camp wants to wait until the first round to decide
“There has not yet been a first round so, by definition, there is no doctrine.” Gabriel Attal repeated it again: we will have to wait this Sunday evening for the presidential camp to give its voting instructions for the constituencies where it will be eliminated in the first round, and its behavior in the event of triangulars against the New Popular Front and the National gathering. And this, despite pressure from the left, from Olivier Faure to Marine Tondelier, who push the majority to clarify their position against the RN.
The question of triangulars is particularly tense. While there were only eight in 2022, they should multiply this year, even exceeding a hundred. Still left behind by the National Rally and the New Popular Front, the presidential camp could then have to qualify in third position in many constituencies. An uncomfortable place, which will inevitably lead to a choice: withdraw by calling to vote for one of the qualified candidates, or to maintain your candidacy.
The current trend seems to revolve around “neither RN, nor LFI”, as was formulated during a videoconference between Emmanuel Macron and the executives of the majority, according to AFP. Enough to imply that the majority would be ready to withdraw or call to vote in favor of environmentalist, socialist or communist candidates against the RN… even if one participant assured AFP that the president had not “decided “. A position denounced by Raphaël Glucksmann this Thursday, who called on the Macronist camp to “get out of ni-ni”, which he considers to be “in reality a consent to the takeover of power by the RN”. L’Express recounts the doubts, the pressures and the vagueness of this “neither-nor” which embarrasses Macronie.
Today’s figure: more than 2 million proxies
The threshold of 2 million proxies for these legislative elections has been crossed, the Ministry of the Interior announced this Thursday. This number rose very precisely on June 26 to 2,124,918 proxies established.
A number which far exceeds that of the 2022 legislative elections, where a little over a million people had established a proxy. But this level also exceeds the 2022 presidential election, where just over 1,960,000 proxies were registered for the second round.
Today’s event: last big debate before the first round
Gabriel Attal and Jordan Bardella meet again this evening on the France 2 set (at 9 p.m.), for the second major debate of these legislative elections. Facing them, this time it is the boss of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, who was chosen to represent the New Popular Front, after Manuel Bompard (LFI) last Tuesday on TF1.
During this last confrontation before the first round this Sunday, international questions could well be at the heart of the discussions, while this theme had been excluded from the first debate on Tuesday, due to lack of time.