The battle for the second round is on. For a few hours, the tone has risen between Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron. The candidate of the National Rally and the outgoing President of the Republic clashed through the media on institutional issues. Little present in the campaign so far, the theme has imposed itself in this beginning of between-two rounds. For what reasons ? We take stock.
Two different views on the subject
Marine Le Pen opened the debate on Tuesday, devoting a press conference to the subject. The RN candidate indicated that she wanted to “revive” the institutions by proposing a “referendum revolution” and a revision of the Constitution, very controversial, in particular to introduce the principle of “national priority”. “Democracy needs oxygen, we saw it during the “yellow vests”. This requires key measures, our great referendum on immigration, the RIC [référendum d’initiative citoyenne] at 500,000 signatures, the proportional or the non-renewable seven-year term, ”explains Gilles Pennelle, part of the movement.
For his part, Emmanuel Macron was in favor of the return of the seven-year term, but renewable, as well as the establishment of proportional representation for the legislative elections, which could be organized in the middle of the mandate. Opposed to the RIC, he did not rule out the use of the referendum, for example on the question of pensions. But unlike 2017, the outgoing president mentioned avenues without making any promises. “It must be recognized that we have not made much progress on these issues for five years, but now the president wants to change his method, find a consensus with the other parties”, defends LREM deputy Roland Lescure. Emmanuel Macron wants to launch a “transpartisan commission” upstream to avoid blockage, when his previous reform had come up against in 2018 to the refusal of the Senate (and to the Benalla affair)
The electorate of Mélenchon to capture
By obtaining nearly 22% of the votes cast, the electorate of Jean-Luc Mélenchon is particularly popular in this between-two rounds. The highlighting of institutional proposals, very present in the program of La France insoumise with in particular the project of the Sixth Republic and the RIC, is therefore not insignificant. “Mélenchon has a number of proposals, it has not escaped us, so our project can speak to its voters”, recognizes Gilles Pennelle. “The voters of Mélenchon are not all pure and hard mélenchonistes, we can convince some, in particular by proposing this new method of government mentioned by the head of state”, assures more cautiously Roland Lescure.
A way to attack the opponent
These institutional questions are also a way of attacking the adversary in the very last straight line. Emmanuel Macron accused this Wednesday on France 2 Marine Le Pen of “authoritarian drift”, while her rival justified during her press conference her refusal to accredit the journalists of Quotidien (RMC). He also described as “madness” Marine Le Pen’s wish to change the Constitution by a single referendum without going through Parliament. “There is indeed a risk of authoritarian drift when we choose journalists or when we make fun of the constitutional framework,” says Roland Lescure. For her part, Marine Le Pen accused the Head of State “of being afraid of the people”.
“We are in the Gaullian spirit of institutions, which gives the people the possibility of expressing themselves directly. Macron is panicking because he is caught off guard on this subject, ”said Gilles Pennelle. Regarding unaccredited journalists, the boss of the RN in Brittany prefers to dodge. “When Macron banned Reporterre journalists from its meeting, is this not an authoritarian drift? The two candidates will have the opportunity to discuss these subjects more head-on next Wednesday during a highly anticipated debate.