The leader of France's conservative Republicans party on Tuesday said he backed an alliance with the far-right National Rally in snap legislative elections, triggering a crisis within his own party and fury from the government.
The shock announcement by the Republicans' (LR) leader Eric Ciotti in a lunchtime television interview on Tuesday is the first time in modern French political history that a leader of a traditional party has backed an alliance with the far-right National Rally (RN).
President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday called the snap elections on 30 June, with a second round on 7 July, in a major gamble after the RN scored more than double the number of votes of his centrist alliance in the EU elections.
With less than three weeks to go before the first round, Macron is facing opposition alliances on the left and right amid warnings that his bet could backfire.
"We need to have an alliance while remaining ourselves... an alliance with the RN and its candidates," Ciotti told TF1 television, adding that he had already held discussions with Le Pen, a three-time presidential candidate, and RN party leader Jordan Bardella.
Le Pen praised "the courageous choice" and "sense of responsibility" of Ciotti, saying she hoped that a significant number of LR figures would follow him.
Risk of implosion
Ciotti's move, which he said was aimed at creating a "significant" group in the new National Assembly after the elections, risks tearing apart his own party.
"A political party is not just one person," said the head of the Republicans in the upper house Senate, Bruno Retailleau.
The LR speaker of the Senate, Gerard Larcher, a heavyweight figure, said he would "never swallow" an agreement with the RN.
"Eric Ciotti is only speaking for himself. He must leave the presidency of the Republicans," added the head of the Republicans in the National Assembly, Olivier Marleix.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, a past defector from the LR to Macron's alliance, described the move as a "dishonour to the Gaullist family" and compared it to the Munich accords with Nazi Germany on the eve of World War II.
As political parties scramble to react to the latest bombshell, Macron's office delayed until Wednesday a major press conference initially slated for Tuesday afternoon.
An aide, asking not to be named, added that since Macron's call for snap elections, a political realignment was under way between "Republican forces on one side and extremist forces on the other".
Resignation not on the cards
Regardless of the the outcome of the elections, Macron says he has ruled out resigning.
"It is not the RN that writes the constitution, nor the spirit of it," he told Figaro Magazine in an interview published on Tuesday when asked what he would do if the RN won the legislative elections and called for his resignation.
"The institutions are clear, the place of the president is clear, and it is also clear whatever the result," he added.
Macron scoffed at a question about whether he was "crazy" to dissolve parliament and call for elections at such short notice.
"I am thinking only of France. It was the right decision, in the interest of the country," he said.
"And I say to the French: 'Don't be scared, go and vote'."
The forthcoming ballot has set alarm bells ringing across Europe, as it risks hobbling France – historically a key player in brokering compromise in Brussels and support for Ukraine against Russian invasion.
Macron's task to shore up support for his centrist camp is formidable, according to polls.
A Harris Interactive-Toluna poll published on Monday suggested just 19 percent of people would back him, compared to 34 percent for the far-right National Rally.
Left alliance seeks key candidate
Meanwhile, on the left, the Socialists, Greens, Communists and the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) said they would combine forces to present a united front and "support joint candidates, right from the first round" of the election – the same strategy that gleaned them a total 151 seats in the 577-seat parliament in June 2022.
But the alliance has yet to name a consensus candidate for prime minister if it wins most seats.
Whatever the decision about leadership, parties across the spectrum are in an organisational scramble to get their candidates' names to election authorities by 6:00 pm on Sunday, before the official start of campaigning next week.
(with AFP)
