A real disaster. While they were already struggling to weigh on the line of the executive, and had seen their numbers melt during the previous five-year term, the members of the left wing of the majority can now be counted on the fingers of one hand. In quick succession, the government reshuffle, then the legislative elections dealt them an almost fatal blow.
During the second round, on June 19, the number of deputies from La République en Marche (LRM) of social-democratic or environmental sensitivity who bit the dust is impressive. Most, elected in 2017 in left-wing constituencies, this time paid the price for the wave of “clearance” that hit the Macronists. This is particularly the case of the President of the National Assembly, Richard Ferrand, and the boss of the deputies of LRM, Christophe Castaner. The departure of these two historical followers of Emmanuel Macron leaves a void in the entourage of the Head of State, with whom they had real influence.
In July 2020, it was they, for example, who convinced him not to appoint Jean-Michel Blanquer to the Ministry of the Interior, on the grounds that the latter has convictions “too far to the right” on certain subjects, in particular secularism. When it was necessary to replace Jean Castex, it was still them who weighed in with all their weight to dissuade Mr. Macron from appointing the elected representative of the Les Républicains party, Catherine Vautrin.
The list is long
Jean-Yves Le Drian (foreign affairs), Florence Parly (army), Emmanuelle Wargon (housing)… Several ministers, who defended a leftist sensibility, also left the ship, during the last reshuffle, at the end of May. Their departure from the track devitalizes Territoires de progress, an internal movement, within the majority, whose ambition is to carry the torch of “social democratic values”. Only the Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, who leads this small party, remains in government. With the desire to follow the line of the presidential project, without making waves.
But it is above all within the LRM group in the National Assembly that the left wing of the majority has suffered its main losses. The list is long, very long… Some had decided not to run again, such as the deputy for Paris and former number 2 of the party, Pierre Person, or his colleague from the Rhône, Jean-Louis Touraine, invested in the subject of the end of life.
It is those beaten in the legislative elections who are the most numerous, like Laurianne Rossi (Hauts-de-Seine), Sonia Krimi (Manche), Fiona Lazaar (Val-d’Oise), Saïd Ahamada (Bouches-du- Rhône), Cécile Muschotti (Var), Emilie Chalas (Isère), Françoise Dumas (Gard), Yves Blein (Rhône), Frédéric Barbier (Doubs)… The Minister of Health, Brigitte Bourguignon, who had managed to create a “pole social” within the majority, during the previous five-year term, also failed in Pas-de-Calais. Which forced him to leave the government.
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