“Our party will not rise again” of his new failure in the presidential “only if we pass through a self-criticism on the positioning, the programmatic line and on the leadership”declares Tuesday, April 26 on franceinfo the deputy Les Républicains Philippe Benassaya. “A new generation will have to arrive to once again transform Les Républicains into a real political force.” But before this internal debate, the party had to manage the urgency of the legislative elections of June 12 and 19. “It’s not the same election” than the presidential one, according to the deputy who thinks that “the right will come together and meet in the legislative elections”. Candidate for his re-election in the Yvelines, he warns against “the danger of an extremist and radical candidacy” coming from a possible union of the left.
franceinfo: Did the Republicans make the right decision by deciding that there will be no rapprochement with LREM?
Philippe Benassaya : We first had to solve the problem of the legislative elections, but we will not escape this duty of self-criticism that we will soon have, I hope. It is still the third defeat since that of Nicolas Sarkozy in 2012 and the second in a row in the first round. We will have to settle this paradox between a presidential election where we fail and the local elections where we succeed each time. But don’t confuse elections. We have the majority of cities, regions and departments. I think there is a real right-wing base in this country. This paradox will therefore have to be resolved one day or another, but today we have to manage the legislative elections more than we have to look at each other and analyze the ferments of our defeat in the presidential election.
Is it a program problem?
There is not only a program problem, but I think there is also a positioning problem. I believe that voters do not know where the right is today. Our electorate is totally dispersed at Macron, at Pécresse, and perhaps a minority part is found at Zemmour and Le Pen. This straight line, which is plural, becomes a disparate straight line. I think the left has the same problems as us. This presidential right has totally exploded but I don’t think there will be the same thing in the legislative elections because it’s not the same election. I think the right will come together and meet in the legislative elections, to be able to vote for their own candidates that they are used to seeing on the ground.
Will your party recover?
I think that our party will only recover if we really go through a permanent and important self-criticism on the positioning, on the programmatic line and even possibly on the leadership. A new generation will have to arrive one day. She is here, she is ready and she could once again transform Les Républicains into a real right-wing and center-right political force.
Will you be a candidate for your re-election to the legislative elections and what do you expect in the event of a triangular situation facing a union of the left and an LREM candidate?
Absolutely, I represent myself in the 11th district of Yvelines, that of Trappes, with a danger which is rather that of the extreme left. I do not yet have the nature of the candidates who will be against me, but one thing is certain, and that is that faced with the danger of an extremist and radical candidacy, I believe that I am the only one who can rally on this ground and be able defeat left-wing extremism. I will not withdraw in favor of LREM. In addition, there is a difference between the reality on the ground where it is sometimes necessary to fight against extremist discourses and national discourses. There cannot be a decision from the top for the bottom. I have the particularity of fighting against an important far-left candidacy. I will try as much as possible to rally to be able to beat this candidacy.