– The President took this decision personally, only his closest advisers knew about it. This came as a surprise to everyone, including French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, the source said.
Why did Emmanuel Macron call early elections? “I don’t want to lose the initiative
An employee of the Elysee Palace explains that Macron does not want to lose the initiative. Election results for the European Parliament, in which the far-right National Rally (RN) won 31.3 percent, and the President’s Rebirth Party won roughly 14.6 percent. About so much.
He also said that the President will not reveal who his party’s prime ministerial candidate will be until he wins the upcoming elections. He believes that Macron always wants to have the last word and does not allow anyone else to decide for him, including the affairs of the party he founded. – Macron does not want to be forced, he wants to force others – comments the PAP interlocutor.
As he explains, both the Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament Yael-Bran Pivet and the Prime Minister Gabriel Attal tried until the last moment to dissuade the President from the idea of dissolving the National Assembly. His decision came as a surprise to most French politicians and political commentators around the world.
A person close to Macron says Attal and Pivet were set to run for president in the 2027 election, something known only to members of the Renaissance Party. As the upcoming elections will be very difficult for our party, neither Attal nor Pivet is likely to win; After Macron’s decision, they lost ground, he says.
Asked if current Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu would become prime minister if Renaissance was given the chance to form a government, the PAP interlocutor replied that such a scenario was possible.
– Lecornu is close to the president, and his added advantage is that he comes from the right, which will make it easier for him to form a coalition government with the Republicans (the largest center-right party). The defense minister has been earmarked for the prime ministership for some time, so he will manage the upcoming election campaign to some extent – explains the source to the PAP.
At the same time, as he explains, Lecorne’s role is directly dependent on Republican decisions. If this party gets some support, Leghorn will not form the government anyway.
What if the far right took power in France? Two scenarios
On Monday, the National Union selected the party’s leader, Jordan Bardella, as its prime ministerial candidate. The PAP interlocutor presents two possible scenarios if this far-right party wins.
In the first case, the National Union wins the early elections and gets an absolute majority. In support of this contrast, he cites a December poll of Republicans that, if earlier elections were held, would have enough votes for the oversight board to rule independently. Half a year later, the far right in France has gained even more support.
According to the second option, the National Union does not get enough votes to secure a majority in Parliament. As he will not find allies to form a government, in such a scenario a national unity government will be formed, in which the powers that be in the parliament will rule together – says the PAP interlocutor.
Political commentators in France draw attention to the possibility of dissolving parliament, introduced and first used by Charles de Gaulle, the first president of the Fifth Republic.
– It is often said that de Gaulle shaped the structure of the Fifth Republic according to his vision and position in French politics. However, most of those who tried to repeat de Gaulle’s feat from 1968, when he won the election despite the unexpected dissolution of parliament, failed and realized that de Gaulle’s example was beyond them – comments a person close to the president.