Paris (AFP)

After the resignation of its number two, Pierre Person, La République en Marche tried Monday evening to stem the crisis into which it has been sinking for several weeks by presenting a new organization chart during a stormy executive office.

Mr. Person, 31, a former Strauss-Kahnian PS who had founded the movement "Young people with Macron" in 2015, explained that he chose to resign from his duties as deputy general delegate of LREM and no longer sit on the executive board "to breathe new life into the party".

In an interview with Le Monde, the one who is a deputy for Paris also invited "all those who want to build the successes of tomorrow to also leave their functions at the head of the party to write a new page".

Monday evening, during an executive office at the party headquarters, it was therefore a question of counting oneself.

The deputy of Vienne, Sacha Houlié, has also presented his resignation from this decision-making body but, he was reminded, he is only the guest and not a member by right.

The boss of LREM, Stanislas Guerini, took the opportunity to suggest appointing new personalities "to give more resonance to the citizen aspect of the movement" and, above all, to postpone the renewal of the "BurEx", initially scheduled for November, in the spring after the regional elections.

MP Aurore Bergé, supporter of the right wing, made it a casus belli, and then announced her resignation from this decision-making body.

The evolutions of the "BurEx" were, however, recorded by a vote: instead of Mr. Person, it is now a pair that becomes deputy general delegate, the Juppeist MP Marie Guévenoux and a close friend of Emmanuel Macron, Jean- Marc Borello, from civil society and reputed to belong to the left branch of macronia.

"They embody extremely well what LREM is, the + at the same time +", defends Stanislas Guerini, who also appointed Secretary of State Clément Beaune and former government spokesperson Sibeth Ndiaye at the head of the "pole ideas ";

the former PS deputy Roland Lescure in the communication of the movement;

former Secretary of State Brune Poirson for international relations and MEP Stéphane Séjourné for relations with civil society.

Astrid Panosyan becomes treasurer, replacing Ms. Guévenoux.

- Legalization -

Beneficial clarification or continuation of disintegration?

The resignation of Pierre Person and the new organization chart come the day after six catastrophic by-elections for the LREM, of which no candidate qualified for the second round, including in a constituency conquered three years ago.

The rout marks the umpteenth episode of an annus horribilis for LREM, whose strategy of variable geometry alliances in municipal elections - defended by Stanislas Guerini - proved to be a loser.

Mr. Person, whose relationship with the latter has gradually deteriorated since, asserts however that "the subject is not personal but political".

Stanislas Guerini replied: "There are two ways of dealing with responsibilities, either we hold the bar firmly and we are up to the stakes, or we let go of the bar. Me, I chose to hold the bar" .

Beyond that, it is the political line of La République en Marche that Pierre Person questions, criticizing a right-wing movement in tracing to that of the government, while he had always been skeptical about the appointments of Edward Philippe then Jean Castex (two ex-LR) in Matignon.

The Macronian "at the same time" has also already been shaken in the National Assembly, where the LREM group has lost its absolute majority, in particular after a split of part of its left wing.

And the presidential party expects further turbulence: its executive office was due to be renewed at the end of the year, but Stanislas Guerini has decided to postpone it until next spring - one of the sticking points with Pierre Person.

He's already promised a bitter battle between several potential headliners who are preparing to challenge the current leadership - even though the resigning has warned that he won't be.

The regional elections in March must give rise to another headache for LREM, which is reluctant to support incumbents.

At the risk of once again fueling a politically inconsistent trial.

© 2020 AFP