Five knocked doors, and still no voter alive. Bruno Nottin attacks a sixth. A dog barks. « Oui ? » The door opens ajar on a circumspect-looking woman in her forties. “It is for the legislative elections. Do you know that the whole left is united around Jean-Luc Mélenchon? It’s good, no ? » The woman drops a “Humm” of politeness. The candidate of the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (Nupes) knows this tower in a popular district of Montargis (Loiret) by heart; he tries another approach.
“Did you see, Jean-Michel Blanquer comes to play his diva here? » Same reaction to the mention of the name of the former Minister of National Education, also a candidate in the constituency: “Hmm. “And the square downstairs?” It’s good, we saved it for you. » The woman finally comes to life. The conversation flows without transition on the parking spaces and the charges of the building. A hundred leagues from national politics.
Who cares about legislative elections? In the aftermath of a passionless presidential election, the prospect of whether or not to offer a majority to Emmanuel Macron does not seem to mobilize the French. According to the Ipsos-Sopra Steria barometer for The world, the Jean Jaurès Foundation and the Cevipof, only 47% of them plan to go to the polls on June 12 and 19. Even less than the sad record of 2017 (48.70% participation).
Admittedly, Jean-Luc Mélenchon had the « talent », recognize his adversaries, to unite the left and shine the spotlight on this election by calling for him to be “elected” as prime minister of cohabitation of the head of state. But the stimuli did not prove powerful enough to awaken the inert body of French politics; no debate emerges from this campaign, which will seal the balance of power in the National Assembly for the next five years, and therefore the choices of the country.
“Chloroform Strategy”
“I’ve seen campaigns that were more in the news than this one.smiles the former Minister of Health Olivier Véran, now in charge of relations with Parliament, and himself a candidate in Isère. There is no consuming appetite for politics. We got out of Covid-19, it makes you want to enjoy life instead. »
A situation that does not seem to overly move Emmanuel Macron, accused by his opponents of having handled the “chloroform strategy” by keeping silent about the agenda and the orientations of his five-year term – apart from a text on the consensual subject of purchasing power. As if not to give hit points to his opponents.
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