As one would have expected, the french political world is upside down with Macron's election and it's the start of an intense transfer season up to the National Assembly election.
- The spokesperson for "La République en Marche" (the just renamed Macron's party, formerly "En Marche !") jokingly said they discover themselves new friends everyday since Sunday.
- Fillon went to the shadows and right wing Les Républicains decided to give a chance to François Baroin, once a baby face youthful prospect (looking more and more like the kids from Akira as he got old) now one of the last backbench warmers they have left. Press says the LR party rubbed the most extreme Fillonist proposals from the platform in order to distance themselves and to appeal more to their center. Just like Socialists, you got people willing to be part of Macron's majority, others taking the cautious way of not advocating systematic opposition, and those who wants to declare opposition to the new President ASAP. Among those willing to sacrifice themselves for a Ministry office you can count Bruno Le Maire, one of the runners in the right wing primary.
- Socialists are likewise in disarray. To follow up on my previous post, Macron's "movement" (let's just say party now) stated that Valls did not follow the procedure to be endorsed as a candidate but they might make a "political judgement" down the road. The Socialist 1st Secretary said Valls was under internal reviewing but later specified it's an old procedure for when he actually said he supported Macron during the campaign. The PS also scrubbed some of Hamon's talking point from their platform without any congress or consultation.
Several "internal movements" are being founded as we speak (an "humanist one" helmed by Paris and Lille mayors, Anne Hidalgo & Martine Aubry), notably by Hamon who wants a "transparty association" within the PS. Party Civil War incoming.
Also to note : the Socialist-Green deal for the presidency also encompasses the upcoming election, with districts distributed among partners.
- Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, MP and niece of Marine Le Pen, is "withdrawing from political life". What it means for the clan-like Front National is still unclear though it is certainly a blow as she was a rather popular figure. She was held as the head of a more radical line within the party. Apparently the Front National is a bit let down by the results and secretly hoped they could get 40% or more. But they sadly might still rebound as some political pundits believe they can win up to 100 seats maybe (while they currently hold 2 and maybe had half a dozen MPs in their whole existence).
- Jean-Luc Mélenchon is gonna run in the upcoming election, maybe in Marseille. Pierre Laurent, the Communist 1st Secretary, is being vocal that he regrets that no formal deal has been agreed upon. If you read some of my previous posts, Mélenchon and the PCF have been frienemy partners for quite some years now. The Communists knows they must ride Mélenchon's wave but they fear (probably rightly) of being swallowed whole by the ogre. It would not be above him to run a "France Insoumise" candidate in the very last PCF holdouts...
Also it's only my hot take (I'm not intensely submerged) but if you're curious regarding the leaked e-mails from Macron influence : It was a total nothing burger, I think most citizens didn't care at all and not just because it was a late release or the lack of coverage (French media is very mindful of the interests of the State, a bit too much in fact). Voting against the National Front has been imbued as a high moral and republican duty (even if that Pavlovian teaching is weakening) and there was not a whole lot that would have impressed voters in a campaign mired in the actual scandals involving Fillon and Le Pen. Macron is not the most popular type but considering how short and meteoric his actual politician career is at this point, there's no deep-seated prejudice held against him even for those who don't have sympathy for his program.
