• Ten days before the first round, the RN is given the lead in several regions.

  • In 2015, the Socialist Party withdrew its candidates in Hauts-de-France and Paca to block the National Front.

  • This year, the “republican front” no longer seems so obvious to the parties of the left as of the right.

"The Republican front is dead, this scenario will not happen again", slips, confident, a close friend of Marine Le Pen.

This political reflex of the left and the right, which aims to withdraw his candidacy in the second round to “block” the National Gathering, is it on the way out?

Ten days before the first round of regional elections, the question arises, while several polls place RN candidates at the top of the first round, whether in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, in the Center-Val de Loire, the Grand Est, in New Aquitaine or in Occitanie.

Despite this push, the anti-RN front no longer seems as obvious as during the previous election, in 2015.

On the right, some denounce an "intellectual deception"

On the right, several personalities have already shattered the dam, already weakened during the polls organized in recent years, like Guillaume Peltier. “I no longer want the Republican front. I no longer want this intellectual deception, this intellectual laziness which makes politicians come to television to say that their fight is against the RN. It just doesn't make sense. I do not get up in the morning against the RN ”, launched the number 2 of the Republicans on RTL.

A position defended in particular by the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes Eric Ciotti, but which does not reach a consensus on the right.

Difficult to say today what will be the position of the leadership of the party when an LR candidate will be behind the left and the RN.

But Aurélien Pradié, LR candidate in Occitanie given in 3rd position in the opinion polls, has already warned that he would not withdraw his list.

“We'll see what comes out of the ballot box on the evening of the first round.

If there is a real threat from the RN in such or such a region, and that we are not in the first two positions, we will take our responsibilities ”, wants to believe the elected official of Pas-de-Calais, Pierre-Henri Dumont .

LREM wishes to "reinvent the Republican front"

As for La République en Marche, it is ambiguous. The president of the marchers in the Assembly, Christophe Castaner, defended the strategy of the “republican front” at the end of May. But the MEP LREM Stéphane Séjourné, also political adviser to Emmanuel Macron, for his part, invited his party to "reinvent the republican front" last week, pleading for mergers in the in-between rounds between the list. came first and those of the opposition to beat the RN. "We can see that the Republican front as we have known it is ineffective, since the voting intentions for the RN are as high as they were five years ago," he said in an interview with France Inter. “An interesting track,” the government spokesman Gabriel Attal replied Wednesday on Europe 1. “Depending on whether we are at 10, 15 or 20%,and depending on the risks of conquering the RN, the strategy may be different: maintenance, withdrawal or merger, ”says an executive from LREM. This "reinvention" of the anti-RN front could also serve to put adversaries in difficulty for 2022, such as Xavier Bertrand in Hauts-de-France, who has already promised not to ally with LREM in the in-between. turns.

On the left, the anti-RN front also weakened?

On the left, some have bitter memories of the last regional 2015. In Hauts-de-France and Paca, the Socialist Party, which came third, had withdrawn its lists between the two rounds in order to prevent - successfully - victories by Marine Le Pen and Marion Maréchal.

But the price to pay was heavy: no regional councilor for six years.

A strategy which remains however defended by certain executives of the PS, such as the mayor of Paris PS Anne Hidalgo, who sees it as an "absolute rule", or the First Secretary Olivier Faure.

At Europe Ecologie-Les Verts, we assure that the strategy will be established on a case-by-case basis, after the first round. "It's a dilemma because the Republican front was not enough to stop the progress of the RN, and not having elected officials for six years to defend its ideas in these territories against the far right is a heavy responsibility" , assures Eva Sas, spokesperson for EELV. “But taking responsibility for an RN victory at the head of a region [if maintained] would also be delicate. We will assess according to the RN risk, other political forces and possible alliances ”. In Paca, the environmental candidate Jean-Laurent Félizia has already indicated that he could maintain his list of union of the left in the second round.

It remains to be seen whether the instructions from the different parties will be followed by the candidates in the field.

In 2015, the socialist candidate Jean-Pierre Masseret refused to withdraw from the race in the Grand Est despite Solferino's requests.

Elections

Regional: How LREM nationalizes the ballot

Elections

Regional in Paca: After the quarrels, Christian Jacob comes to the rescue of Renaud Muselier

  • Elections

  • Republican Front

  • EELV

  • LREM

  • The Republicans (France)

  • PS

  • Regional elections

  • National gathering