The camps of Emmanuel Macron and Jean-Luc Mélenchon go blow for blow Tuesday, five days before the first round of the legislative elections, whose campaign is finally gaining in intensity after the first results of the constituencies of French people abroad.

If the presidential majority came in first in eight out of eleven constituencies, it is closely followed by the left-wing coalition (Nupes).

Illustration of this Mélenchonist dynamic, the pillar of the macronie and outgoing deputy Roland Lescure certainly won the most votes (35.88%) in the North American constituency, but, with 22 points less than in 2017, he is held in respect by the LFI candidate Florence Roger (33.43%).

On Monday, the boss of La République en Marche, Stanislas Guerini, called for an “even stronger” campaign by the first round.

Because the comfortable majority promised a few weeks ago by opinion polls is crumbling: if LREM and its allies come out on top in the number of seats in the second round according to the projections of IFOP-Fiducial and Harris interactive, the majority could only be relative, while the gap with Nupes (up to 230 seats, according to the first institute) is narrowing.

On the front line, the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, announced on Tuesday a new “inflation check” paid by the start of the school year during an interview on France Bleu.

Not enough to convince Marine Le Pen, for whom this new aid is “a masquerade”: “Not only can the French not wait for September, but in addition the announcement falls five days before the first round”, was moved by the leader of the National Rally.

Ms. Borne also came under criticism from the left after responding to a disabled listener who questioned her about her situation that “there is the way we can support you so that you can, perhaps, resume an activity professional”.

“It’s the story of an encounter with a block of ice,” quipped PS boss Olivier Faure.

The majority offensive must continue this week with several trips by Emmanuel Macron to “illustrate the priorities of the five-year term”, in particular “youth” and “everyday security”, his entourage told AFP. .

The macronie has also redoubled its attacks against Jean-Luc Mélenchon, after the rebellious leader estimated that “the police kill”, in reference to the death of the passenger in a car who was the victim of police fire during a check on Saturday. in Paris.

“I find it very shocking the way (he) systematically attacks the police with totally outrageous remarks”, protested Elisabeth Borne.

Immediate response from the person concerned: “Technocratic Prime Minister without heart, without human compassion, without republican principle on public force”, tackled the rebellious leader in a tweet Tuesday afternoon.

But the good form of the LFI-EELV-PCF-PS alliance – which qualified in the second round on Sunday in ten constituencies of French people living abroad out of eleven, against barely five in 2017 – led one of the right arm of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Manuel Bompard, to “strongly believe” in the possibility of a majority of the left in the Assembly.

The leaders of the left-wing coalition again welcomed on Tuesday the decision of the Council of State, which ordered the Minister of the Interior to take into consideration the Nupes as “a political nuance in its own right” for the legislative elections, while Place Beauvau intended to count the political parties of the alliance separately. But that would have “undermined the sincerity of the presentation of the electoral results”, considered the magistrates.

If Marine Le Pen does not believe in the victory of the left, but in that – in unison of the polls – of the presidential majority in the legislative elections, she hopes to delight Nupes with the title of first opponent in the future Assembly. And pleads for Emmanuel Macron to obtain only “a relative majority”, so that “he does not have full powers”.

“Unlike Jean-Luc Mélenchon, I have a sense of the ridiculous”, still tackled Ms. Le Pen, before a trip to Loiret to support the candidate RN Thomas Ménagé, in a position to win against the former Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer.

By trying to play the referees, despite scores at half mast in opinion studies, the right accused Emmanuel Macron of “anaesthetizing the campaign, as he had anesthetized the presidential campaign”, by the voice of one of his tenors, Bruno Retailleau.

And the boss of the LR senators warned: his party will not “give instructions to vote” in the event of a second round opposing LREM to the RN.

07/06/2022 18:30:32 –         Paris (AFP) –         © 2022 AFP