Legislative elections 2024: Éric Ciotti opens a crisis on the right, Gabriel Attal takes the front line for the majority, negotiations on the left

Ulcerated, the LR president of the Hauts-de-France region Xavier Bertrand, for his part, asked "a vote from all the activists" LR on this agreement. Despite the first defections of senators and local elected officials, and an avalanche of calls for resignation within his party, Éric Ciotti, who seems isolated among LR executives, insisted that he "will not give in" to pressure and that "only activists could take away his mandate".

The president of the RN, Jordan Bardella, assured for his part on France 2 that there would be an agreement between his party and the RN, with &quot ;several dozen" of LR deputies who will be "invested" or "supported". Since this alliance with the extreme right, the boss of the Republicans has unleashed a torrent of indignation well beyond his camp. "Eric Ciotti signs the Munich agreements and brings dishonor to the Gaullist family", reacted the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin.

"Political clarification"

Conversely, Marine Le Pen praised "the courageous choice" and "the sense of responsibility" of the president of the Republicans, and hoped &amp ;quot;that a significant number of LR executives follow him.

The union of the rights had already been outlined the day before during an interview between Marine Le Pen, Jordan Bardella and Marion Maréchal. But, in a twist this Tuesday, the new MEP deplored “a change of position” from the RN which “refuses the very principle of an agreement” with Reconquête so as not to be, according to it, “associated” with Eric Zemmour.

While the right was settling its scores, Emmanuel Macron was playing for time. He must present on Wednesday "the orientation that he believes is right for the Nation", in order to try to rally forces from the right and the left, just 18 days before the first round of the shortest legislative campaign in the history of the Fifth Republic.

In the meantime, "the political clarification called for on Sunday by the President of the Republic is currently underway", the presidency stressed, and “Republican forces on one side, extremist forces on the other are positioning themselves”. “I'm going to win”, the head of state told Figaro magazine, ruling out resigning “whatever the result” of July 7.

For his part, Gabriel Attal, discreet since the announcement of the dissolution, announced that he was moving to the front line. “I will lead this campaign” on the presidential side, he said on TF1. Several majority leaders wanted him to be at the forefront of the campaign rather than Emmanuel Macron, whose unpopularity has already been heavily punished in the European elections.

Former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, who also said "not sure that it is completely healthy for the President of the Republic to do a legislative campaign ", pleaded to reach out to the LRs opposed to the alliance with the RN and build a "new majority& quot;, which must not be "the reproduction" of that of 2022.

Tractions on the left

Despite the strong divisions displayed a few days ago during the European elections, the four main left-wing parties (LFI, PS, Ecologists, PCF) as well as the Place publique movement of Raphaël Glucksmann and Générations, also found common ground Monday evening and called for "single candidacies from the first round" of the legislative elections on 30&nbsp ;June.

Negotiations continued to refine a common program and distribute the 577 constituencies. "I’I have the impression that things are moving faster than the Nupes era in 2022", assured the AFP the LFI deputy for Haute-Garonne Hadrien Clouet, responsible for the programmatic aspect of the negotiations.

But discussions on this agreement could be tense at the PS national council this Tuesday evening. The mayor of Rouen, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, thus refuses "a programmatic agreement" with LFI, but validates "technical withdrawal agreements".

The choice of a leader remains unresolved. In any case, "it will clearly not be Jean-Luc Mélenchon", estimated this Monday evening Glucksmann. In the meantime, the RN, continuing its momentum, garnered 35% of voting intentions in the first round of the legislative elections, more than in the European elections (31.37%), according to an Ifop survey. -Fiducial presented this Tuesday.

The left is credited with a better score if it leaves in dispersed order (32%) than united (25%). She would find herself in front of the presidential majority which would do better against a united left (18%) than a divided one (16%).