“I’ve done some weird stuff in my campaigns, but I’ve never had this one done to me!” In the vast sports hall, Édouard Philippe pauses. Standing on the stage, the former Prime Minister, very relaxed, has just taken off his jacket for a well-rehearsed thirty-minute one-man show. But with its share of improvisation: invisible in the roof, a seagull has just cut off his chew with its piercing cries. “It’s the only bird of La France insoumise in the constituency. They managed to get him into the room. These guys are strong, they are very strong! Laughter from the four hundred spectators.
The mayor of Le Havre actively gives of his time and his person, in the final stretch of the campaign, aligning the kilometers to support himself a maximum of the 58 candidates presented by his party, Horizons, in the legislative elections. Tuesday, June 7, it was morning in Isère, afternoon in Gard, and the same evening, therefore, at the communal meeting center of Saint-Georges-d’Orques, a town of 5,400 inhabitants near of Montpellier (Hérault), to support its mayor, Jean-François Audrin, candidate in the 8th district. Like him, ex-Les Républicains and former supporter of Alain Juppé.
Other LREM deputies from the department, candidates for re-election, are present. The president of Horizons knows how to relax his audience. He also knows how to “lead the mood”, by listing the main challenges that he believes France must meet in the next five years: consequences of the conflict in Ukraine, the artificial intelligence revolution, demographic and migratory pressure , ecological transition… All this with “French weaknesses”, which he diagnoses in the field of health or education. And a public debt that he urges not to dig deeper.
A new majority after the legislative elections? “The President of the Republic was elected for a term of five years. Final point. Where is it written that having freely chosen the President of the Republic, it would be necessary to send a different majority to be certain that nothing happened? “ The leader of the Insoumis is curbed on all subjects, whether it is his changes of foot on Vladimir Poutine, his admiration for Hugo Chavez, or his wish to nationalize the banks. And, of course, his recent statements about the police: “You consider that the most important thing to do today to better guarantee security in France is to tell the police officers of the anti-crime brigades who intervene under sometimes difficult: So guys, above all, you go, but not armed! »