Will party leaders succeed in rising to the level of their voters?

The only winner of this election is the Republican Front. Therefore, the government will have to be composed, or at least supported, by a coalition to survive.

Emmanuel Macron calls, in a letter published by the regional daily press on Wednesday July 10, “republican forces” has “build a broad gathering”, The Head of State notes that following the legislative elections, “no political force alone obtains a sufficient majority.” He therefore urges the groups which have blocked the extreme right and “recognize themselves in republican institutions, the rule of law and a European orientation” to discuss to form a “solid majority necessarily plural”. It is on this basis, and taking into account, he said, “the clear demand for change and power sharing” expressed by the voters, that he will appoint a new Prime Minister.

The RN of course, but also the left through Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Olivier Faure, Marine Tondelier, Fabien Roussel and others, have increased their indignation to accuse the head of state of “refusing to admit defeat” and to lock oneself in the “denial”. Except that the left is itself… in denial. The presidential camp lost, it’s true, but the left didn’t really win, at least not enough to claim to govern alone. It came in pole position by a narrow margin, but far, very far, a hundred seats, from an absolute majority. A pure New Popular Front government would only last a few days. Parliamentary arithmetic is stubborn, the left could only govern sustainably if it opens up to others, in the center or on the right. Just as an alliance between the Macronists and LR, desired by Gérald Darmanin and Édouard Philippe, but rejected by Laurent Wauquiez, is also doomed to failure, because it is too much of a minority in the Palais-Bourbon.

The parliamentary puzzle can be turned around in all directions: to survive, a government will have to be composed, or at least supported, by a coalition ranging from the socialists to the LR via the central bloc. In short, party leaders would have to rise to the level of their voters.

Only one clear message came out of the ballot boxes on the evening of the second round: a clear majority of French people refuse to see the extreme right come to power. Left-wing voters voted for the center or the right and right-wing or center voters in favor of the New Popular Front, not out of submission to “shenanigans” or some “unnatural political alliances”as Jordan Bardella claims, but because these voters consider that what unites them, the defense of republican values, is more important than what separates them. They did not do it lightly. They sacrificed their partisan ties in the service of the general interest. They were even wise and responsible for both of them, so irresponsible was Emmanuel Macron when he pressed the dissolution button.

The only winner of this election is the Republican Front. It is the Front that decided, at the ballot box, the composition of the hemicycle. It is by transposing it to the top that the party leaders will be able to provide the country with a stable government. Conversely, if they aggravate the crisis by putting their personal interests before all else, they will open the doors of the Élysée Palace wide to Marine Le Pen in 2027. Or perhaps before.