France has officially begun preparations for the second round of parliamentary elections to be held on Sunday. In most of the constituencies where the election is still ongoing, only two contenders each remain: a left-wing and a right-wing candidate. Both powers are now trying to win over the French voters who remain in the centre to their side.
The last time Emmanuel Macron was seen in public, he was wearing a dark aviator jacket, Top Gun sunglasses and a black baseball cap. His incognito rock star image as he voted in the coastal town of Le Touquet on Sunday attracted a lot of attention on social media and news channels, POLITICO reports.
But despite this moment of swagger, the truth is that Macron has recently taken a step back from the public spotlight. Aside from scheduled international events, he hasn’t been seen out in public in almost two weeks.
Calls for unity
Last Sunday, instead of appearing on television to console his wounded soldiers after a stunning defeat in the first round of parliamentary elections, the Elysee Palace issued a brief presidential statement calling for unity.
For the first time, Macron’s centrist alliance, battered after defeat in June’s European elections, is fighting a desperate battle without its leader.
And the reality is that his allies don’t want him on the campaign trail: Macron’s face is even being removed from campaign literature. A Renaissance party official, who was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue, said:
He was told to stop [campaigning] … And it’s not really that he heard our message, it’s more that he was forced to hear it. [The president] underestimated how much the public were turned off by his personality.
In recent weeks, several party heavyweights have lobbied for Macron to stay away from the campaign, in what one key ally called a necessary “de-Macronisation.” One minister even admitted on public television that Macron’s image was “worn out.”
For the eloquent, brash 46-year-old president, who is constantly in the spotlight, proposing new ideas, disrupting the status quo, the new reality is not comfortable.
The Elysée bunker
But Macron, like Napoleon forced into exile, has gone back to the drawing board and is preparing for his next battle: governing France after Sunday’s expected resounding defeat. The French president may have to enter a “cohabitation” government with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party, which is expected to have the largest group in parliament.
Macron has been busy consolidating his influence in recent days, appointing several top officials in France and promoting his allies to key posts in Brussels, prompting accusations from Le Pen of organising an “administrative coup.”
On Wednesday, a government spokesman announced new appointments in the police and security forces after the weekly cabinet meeting. Dozens of top military officials in the army, navy and air force were also appointed.
More appointments were expected, but faced with growing outrage over the administrative reshuffle, the president was forced to scale back his plans. One person familiar with the negotiations at the Elysee Palace ironically called it a “small retreat”, Playbook Paris reported.
While at the Elysee Palace, the president is also calculating scenarios for the next day that include a far-right victory, a hung parliament with the Rassemblement Nationale as the largest group, and a coalition that excludes the far right, according to several officials.
Loose coalition
Several of Macron’s allies have suggested a loose coalition similar to what parties in Spain and Germany have managed.
But how long will Macron stay away from the cameras? By the looks of it, not long.
On Sunday night, when the scale of the National Rally victory is known, the president will have to turn his attention to choosing a new prime minister, which could take several weeks if there is no clear majority in parliament.
“He will again assume the role of guarantor of France’s institutions,” said the same party official quoted above. If the far-right wins a very large majority, Macron will be forced to appoint National Rally leader Jordan Bardella as prime minister. Otherwise, the president could get into lengthy coalition talks with his current rivals on the left and right.
However, it is difficult to see how relations with Macron’s liberal allies can be mended and his image in the eyes of the general public improved. According to several polls, his popularity rating has plummeted in recent weeks.
On the campaign trail, Attal, one of the few popular figures in the government, smiles, gritting his teeth when people tell him they don’t like his boss. In French politics, Macron has been called “crazy, an agent of chaos” and accused of presiding over a “fiasco.”
No Top Gun mojo will make a difference in the short term.
Social media confrontation
Meanwhile, the right and left are actively fighting each other on social media.
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, leader of the party Debout la France (France Arise), wrote on X:
They’ve lost their minds! Mélenchon and the New Popular Front are urging people to vote for Darmanin, Borne and all of Macron’s ministers. The French can’t be fooled, the lying opposition is showing its true face in this legislative campaign. #legislatives2024
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the head of France Unbowed, also wrote his commentary on the election:
For 53 years, the RN has expanded with the help of every overt and covert racist in this country. We are going to put an end to it thanks to the voices of young people and people in working-class neighbourhoods.
