THOMAS SAMSON / AFP
In comments reported by Point this Friday, the former prime minister, who does not hide his Elysian ambitions, calls on his camp to “better define (his) electorate to recreate (his) space”.
How will the electorate be redefined in 2027? Where will the voters go? And who will reap the benefits? So many questions which, three years before the deadline, are already agitating the minds of putative candidates for the next presidential election. And in particular that of the former prime minister Édouard Philippe, whose Élysée ambitions are barely concealed. Even assumed.
If the general staffs have their eyes fixed on the European elections, the founder of Horizons is multiplying strategic meetings and unofficial meetings. Like this lunch this week with parliamentarians from the majority, reported this Friday by the magazine Point where Alain Juppé’s former right-hand man announces the color from the start: “We have the right to talk politics. It’s not a bad word.”. Way to contrast with the merits of the “new world” and civil society long promoted by Emmanuel Macron.
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In the long road that leads Édouard Philippe until 2027, a major challenge arises: embodying the break with a President of the Republic whom he served during the first three years of his tenth term. And therefore exceed the electoral base of macronism. In front of his guests, the former head of government therefore pleaded in favor of a large gathering of republican forces going “from the conservative right to the Mitterrandian left”.
“The parties are no longer structuring”
Faced with the three-polarization of political life, his objective is clear: to cast a wide net in the first round to obtain his entry ticket to the second. “We need to better define our electorate to recreate our space. Today, the French are scattered, but they can vote again for the central space, if we want to, analyzes the mayor of Le Havre (Seine-Maritime). The positions are not fixed because the political parties are no longer structuring.
And to start from the defeat in the 2022 legislative elections to reinforce this need for enlargement. “We were content to say why it would be worse with Le Pen or Mélenchon, why it would be better if we continued together. If we do the same thing in 2027, it’s a guaranteed crash”, he warns. Enough to appear as the best link of the majority, facing Gérald Darmanin, Bruno Le Maire or even Yaël Braun-Pivet? The political landscape may be divided into several blocs, but his point of view would be all the more relevant as the voters would be “liquids”. A former supporter of Emmanuel Macron could very well vote for Jordan Bardella’s list next June. In this regard, Édouard Philippe considers that the pretender RN “doesn’t have the level” in this campaign. “He is polite, I welcome the media audacity, but people will realize that he is light,” he snaps.