lOn the weekend of 7 and 8 September, two leftists expressed their anger at not having taken control of the country, while the second round of the legislative elections on 7 July had placed the New Popular Front in first place. The first, virulent, expressed its desire to have Emmanuel Macron removed from office, accused of having deceived voters by rejecting Lucie Castets’ candidacy for Matignon. The second, more discreet, cursed the leadership of the Socialist Party for having missed the opportunity to be able to re-establish, in an unprecedented form of coexistence, a left-wing government under the aegis of Bernard Cazeneuve, former Prime Minister of François Holland. Behind this collective failure lies the classic tension between radicalism and the search for compromise, which illuminates the entire history of the left but which now extends beyond.
Who today would be blind enough not to proclaim their desire to separate? Everything is pushing towards it, starting with the accelerated devitalization of the President of the Republic who, since 2022, has been struggling to make sense of his second term and ended up losing himself in the dissolution of the National Assembly. Added to this is the discredit suffered by the national representation as a whole, the bad image reflected by the Assembly fragmented into three blocks, the rejection of the parties, all of which is precisely documented by the latest electoral survey carried out by Ipsos for The worldthe Jean Jaurès Foundation, the Sciences Po Political Research Center and the Montaigne Institute (The world since August 31st).
Facts are stubborn
In this harmful context, the epidemic of splits does not only affect the extremes. It also affects the central bloc, not forgetting the presidential camp, which was shaken on Wednesday 4 September by the declaration of candidacy of Edouard Philippe. Prepared for all eventualities, including that of early presidential elections, the former Prime Minister promised to propose something ” massive “ For the French, it was a way out of the environmental quagmire on the day when Emmanuel Macron seemed unable to find a prime minister who would not be immediately censured. And when, the next day, a name was finally announced, that of former European Commissioner Michel Barnier, it was again the register of disturbances that was activated, the plaintiff promising to follow in the footsteps of Matignon. “changes” AND “breakouts”.
But at this point, the facts are stubborn. At the end of the incredible sequence of sixty days during which the country found itself in weightlessness, administered by an endless and resigned government, the impression of continuity prevails within the executive. Emphasizing his social Gaullism, rejecting all sectarianism, Gabriel Attal’s successor presents himself more as an open man than as a former candidate in the right-wing primaries, in favor of retirement at 65 and a referendum to find a new president. “freedom of movement” in immigration matters.
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