The attack is not new but it is frontal.

It emanates from the second character of the State, Gérard Larcher (LR): "The President of the Republic wants to be re-elected without ever having been a real candidate, without campaign, without debate, without confrontation of ideas".

"All the candidates are debating except him. It's a paradox!", Launched the President of the Senate in an interview with the daily Le Figaro.

"If there is no campaign, the question of the legitimacy of the winner will arise," he said.

This attack in good standing by the president-candidate, the big favorite in the polls for a second term, comes just after the first big election night of the campaign, Monday evening on TF1, with the participation of eight candidates out of 12.

This true-false debate, very civilized and without surprise, did not allow a direct confrontation between the contenders for the Elysée who never even crossed paths on the set.

"Irresponsible remarks"

The presidential camp very quickly stepped up to the plate after the attacks from the right, whose candidate Valérie Pécresse (LR) is in difficulty in the polls around 11/13%.

Candidate Valérie Pécresse (LR) in Montrouge on March 15, 2022 Alain JOCARD AFP

The Minister of Agriculture, Julien Denormandie, thus denounced on France Inter "irresponsible remarks", which "run a little music which would be a lawsuit for illegitimacy".

"As soon as he can", the Head of State "takes part in this campaign", also replied government spokesman Gabriel Attal on France 2, recalling that Mr. Macron must present Thursday during a "three-hour" press conference its project for a second five-year term.

Mobilized by the war in Ukraine and his duties as President-in-Office of the Council of the EU, Mr. Macron has not yet participated in any campaign rally.

In Marseille, he was represented on Saturday by Mr. Attal and the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin.

Government spokesman Gabriel Attal in Marseille on March 12, 2022 CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU AFP / Archives

He explained that he was retained by the Ukrainian file, in a 22-minute video broadcast for the first time in public and called to be screened in several regional meetings.

The president, given some 30% of first-round voting intentions, also refuses to debate directly with the other candidates before the first round, justifying his decision by the fact that the other incumbent presidents in the running for a second term are not s were not prepared for this exercise.

This attitude places him under the fire of criticism from his rivals, in particular the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen (RN), given by the opinion polls in second place (17/18%), therefore qualified for the second turn, as in 2017.

The presidential race Valentin RAKOVSKY AFP

For the deputy and spokesperson for the RN Sébastien Chenu, Mr. Macron "would like to step over the election, to be renewed in a completely tacit way".

“We cannot erase like that, (as with) a magic slate, a catastrophic balance sheet, which threw our country into the street. ?", Added the socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo in reference to the main social crisis of the Macron mandate.

"No more pretending"

One of the four candidates not invited to the TF1 evening, the iconoclastic candidate Jean Lassalle had already choked on being treated as a "shitty and useless candidate".

During a major oral on decentralization on Tuesday, he raised his voice, considering withdrawing from the race for the Elysée, irritated at not being invited to the electoral debates.

"I am strongly considering it at the moment," explained the deputy for Pyrénées-Atlantiques, promising to make a decision during the day.

With about 2% in the voting intentions, he very regularly exceeds the two far-left candidates Nathalie Artaud (LO) and Philippe Poutou (NPA).

And sometimes even matches or exceeds Anne Hidalgo.

BFMTV and France 2 indicated that they had indeed invited Jean Lassalle to their big presidential evening, respectively on March 23 and 31.

Several leaders of associations of elected officials, dominated by the opposition, also regretted the absence - "not very republican behavior" - at the great oral on the decentralization of the president-candidate, who maintained tense relations with the communities throughout his tenure.

For the PS vice-president of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), André Laignel, "it is still curious that the one who turned to the mayors (during the yellow vests crisis) did not deigned to come before the mayors" to "report" on his record and "how he considered local democracy or not", he lamented.

© 2022 AFP