Paris (AFP)

Complicated campaigns, in-between uncertain rounds and, already, questioning of the leadership: a few days before the municipal elections, the presidential movement entered a zone of turbulence and the post-election period looked painful.

If the modest objective of going from 2,000 municipal councilors to 10,000 on the evening of the second round, on March 22, is still considered achievable, it is the management of the in-between turns which now worries the general staff. LREM, when it comes to choosing between maintaining the list, withdrawals or mergers, depending on the possibilities of various alliances.

In Paris, the idea pushed by certain party executives of an anti-Hidalgo front which would go through an alliance with Rachida Dati (LR) caused cries of outrage. "Me, never one will make me vote Dati. And if that is it, I leave", warns a walking MP from the PS.

Possible rapprochements between walkers and ecologists, advocated by some in certain cities, including the capital, provoke the same reluctance and divisions. "The ecologists? But we see that they are rebellious in disguise, we have nothing to do with these people", tackles a figure of macronie, from LR.

Therefore, "the risk is that it farts," prophesies a responsible, who admits that the presidential movement is about to live "perhaps the most serious crisis of its existence", on the occasion of these municipal.

At the head of La République en Marche, relations between number one, Stanislas Guerini, and his deputy, Pierre Person, have also cooled considerably, especially after an attempt to bring Cédric Villani and Agnès Buzyn together - ardently defended by Mr. Person - would have failed.

In the hollow, some want to see in this announced defeat an opportunity for the left wing of the party, which has already taken advantage of the use of 49.3 to raise the tone, to raise its voice - and to attack, by ricochet, its promoter, Édouard Philippe.

- "Full mouth" -

"People who suddenly go out to play political politics? They don't just play against their side, they play against the President of the Republic," said a minister. "They still believe in the UNEF," adds a close to the management of LREM, in reference to the student union from which these snipers come, to whom we lend the will to take the party.

Aimed? The "Poitiers gang", these former Young people with Macron who became deputies - Pierre Person, Sacha Houlié, Guillaume Chiche, Aurélien Taché -, Secretary of State - Gabriel Attal - or MEP, in this case Stéphane Séjourné, formerly advisor to the 'Elysium.

"We know it will rock following the municipal elections. Stanislas Guerini will take it up in the face. But he was elected in 2018 for three years and he will go all the way," warns one of his relatives, who recalls that Emmanuel Macron gave strong support to the number one of LREM when he received the majority deputies at the Élysée last month.

Another target of ever more acerbic criticism, the National Commission for the investiture of the party, deemed incapable of preventing dissent and responsible for the announced Bérézina. "I live it well", smiles the co-president of the CNI, Marie Guévenoux, who says she knows "that we are exposed, in case of defeat, to be held responsible for it".

A minister summed up the guerrillas to come: "The deputies will say that the municipal elections will be the Prime Minister's fault because he is too far to the right; the fault of Gilles Le Gendre - patron of LREM deputies - because he has no authority; and Guerini's fault for misguiding the party. "

In a small committee, a member agrees with him: "I hope they can play politics. Because when we settle the accounts, we will not be tender".

© 2020 AFP