While the macronists united under the label Together! are not guaranteed to retain their absolute majority in the National Assembly on Sunday, former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe dramatizes the issue, arguing in Le Figaro that in the event of only a “relative” majority, “the political disorder that would come adding to the instability and dangers of today’s world would be madness”.
The presidential majority emerged from the first round on Sunday with just over 21,000 votes ahead of the United Left Nupes (LFI-EELV-PS-PCF) – out of 23.3 million voters – and 25.75% of the vote , against 25.66% for Nupes, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior, disputed by the left.
The various polling institutes predict a range of 255 to 295 seats, when the absolute majority is set at 289 seats, and between 150 and 210 seats for Nupes.
“We must snatch an absolute majority next Sunday. It’s a fight”, launched the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire on France 2, urging to avoid “real trench warfare”, “endless negotiations” and the “waste of time” caused by a relative majority, when “the absolute majority gives us the ability to decide”.
The elbow-to-elbow of the results of the first round exacerbates the tension, the Nupes accusing the Ministry of the Interior of “hacking” and “mores of the banana republic” in the words of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who mocks the ” panic” of the macronists who according to him “say anything” because they “live badly” the score of the left in the first round.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne retorted by calling the leader of LFI a “first liar”.
– Voters “who go astray” –
In the fierce battle for the carryover of votes at the end of a first round marked by a record abstention at 52.49%, the Nupes also attacks the macronie by reproaching him for not giving clear instructions in the event of Nupes duels /RN.
“No voice” for the National Rally and support for “republican” candidates, defined Elisabeth Borne, excluding those among the Nupes candidates who “insult our police officers, ask to no longer support Ukraine, want to leave Europe “.
A “very clear” line, defends Minister Clément Beaune, himself a candidate in Paris but on an unfavorable ballot against Nupes. “Besides, symmetrically, Jean-Luc Mélenchon had said that at the end of the first round (of the presidential election) on April 10, he had not been more precise, he had not gone further”, added he argues on France Inter.
Within the Nupes alliance, LFI number two Adrien Quatennens called on voters who “get lost” in the RN vote to rally the left.
While at the RN, which bets on 35 to 40 deputies, “most of the time we will vote white” in the Together!-Nupes duels, indicates the mayor of Perpignan Louis Aliot, while wishing the defeat of the boss of the LREM deputies Christophe Castaner, even at the cost of a vote by RN voters for Nupes.
At LR, which is counting on around sixty deputies and could thus assume a crucial role if the macronie only obtained a relative majority, Gérard Larcher, president of the Senate, urges not to give any voice to the “extreme”, referring back to back Nupes and RN, both “represent(ing) the same danger for our country”.
– Romania and Moldova –
In this last straight line, Emmanuel Macron, who has still not reacted officially to the results of the first round, flies away on Tuesday for Romania after the Council of Ministers and a lunch with the heads of employers’ organizations.
He must greet the 500 French soldiers who have been deployed on a NATO base since the invasion of Ukraine before a support visit to Moldova and a possible trip to kyiv.
Its ministers, in particular the 15 in the running for the legislative elections, remain at the front. Bruno Le Maire takes part in a public meeting in the evening with Amélie de Montchalin in Palaiseau, in a constituency where the Minister for Ecological Transition is in great danger against the candidate of Nupes Jérôme Guedj.
Just after the deadline for submitting applications for the second round (6:00 p.m.), Jean-Luc Mélenchon will be at a meeting in Toulouse at 7:00 p.m.
Herself a candidate in Pas-de-Calais, Marine Le Pen is in Pont-sur-Yonne to support the candidate Julien Odoul, before an interview with the 8:00 p.m. news from France 2.
