With a message: the first opponent is me! No question of being dispossessed of his status as official challenger of Emmanuel Macron. To reinforce it, Marine Le Pen accuses Jean-Luc Mélenchon of having had the head of state re-elected, repeating: “Not a voice for the far right!” But the problem is that for two weeks, the Insoumis has taken center stage and repeats with confidence that he will be Prime Minister. Yesterday, he even said that Emmanuel Macron will appoint his “predecessor” to Matignon this weekend, since the French will elect him, head of government in June, in the legislative elections. Anyway, that’s his goal.
The logic of the institutions wants the head of state to have a majority in the Assembly, she said. This is the case every time, for twenty years that with the quinquennium the legislative follow the presidential. And it is true that the polls leave little hope for the left. The balance of power leans clearly in favor of Emmanuel Macron. Marine Le Pen therefore claims “telling the truth to the French” and campaign to embody the main opposition to the head of state.
It is a risky strategy because this defeatism can further demobilize its voters. Five years ago, the candidates of the National Front had lost eight points compared to the score of their leader in the presidential election, 13% against 21%.
Marine Le Pen’s real objective is, first of all, to get a group. It needs 15 deputies, it had only elected eight five years ago. And it’s been 34 years since the far right has had a group in the National Assembly since the abolition of the proportional voting system in 1988. Its other objective is to crush Eric Zemmour and his troops. There is no question of letting the potential competition that scared him so much at the start of the presidential campaign survive. Hence the refusal of any outstretched hand to the Reconquest candidates.
The defeat in the second round of the presidential election was much heavier than expected. Marine le Pen was aiming for at least 45% of the votes, she only won 41%. But unlike 2017, she is not afraid of internal challenge because she has already cleaned up within the RN. It is outside that any potential rebellion must be extinguished. To consider, why not, a fourth candidacy for the Elysée in five years. After all, the family record held by his father, five candidacies, is not so far away…