In French political life today, this is one of the most imposing questions. Emmanuel Macron in the impossibility of a third term, Marine Le Pen facing a boulevard towards the Elysée? A politically fragmented left in a jigsaw despite the new alliance (NUPES) and a right frantically seeking new leadership.
In their most secret inner circles, the leaders of the Republican right must bite their fingers with disappointment and bitterness. Never have the political conditions of the country been so favorable for a return of the Republican right to power, but never has this dream been so fleeting and this ambition so far to achieve.
Indeed, several factors show the readiness of the country to choose a right-wing man or woman to succeed Emmanuel Macron, prevented by the constitution from considering a third term. The polls continue to show that the France of 2023 is a country that votes mainly on the right and that the left, even if it is active and vocal on many social crises, it needs a sacred statistical miracle and compromise to be able to provoke the consensus essential to weld a majority.
The leaders of the Republican right must be stamping with impatience because they know three essential things. The first is that despite an optical illusion of the moment that describes Marine Le Pen marching with certainty and confidence on the Elysée Palace, it is not certain that the idea of entrusting the reins of power in France to the extreme right is so easily obvious. No doubt talented at capturing the anger of the French people, giving it a political and media expression, Marine Le Pen is still struggling to convince that she is at the head of a political group capable of wresting the confidence of a majority of French people and to govern France tomorrow.
The pension crisis in which the country is still struggling has shown intelligent and opportunistic opposition on the part of the far right, but it has also exposed its many flaws by highlighting the absence of essential social and trade union depths. to any conquest of power.
Marine Le Pen’s Party was unable to take to the streets to demonstrate. And when the far right wanted to do it, it was the ultra right in its violent version that shocked the French and reminded them in a spectacular way of the political heritage of this extreme right and the major risks to carry it. at the top of the state.
The second is that the leaders of this republican right perceive, in the current context, that they are faced with a left paralyzed by the war of egos and the competition of chapels. A political and ideological confrontation between those who saw themselves as part of the left of government and the left of protest showed the limits of a form of agreement which had twice (1981 and 1988) brought the socialist François Mitterrand to the power and imposed the experience of political cohabitation on the right-wing president of the time Jacques Chirac by the socialist Lionel Jospin (from 1997 to 2002).
The third factor of hope for this Republican right is the inability of the presidential Renaissance party to produce a leadership capable of continuing the work of Emmanuel Macron or simply succeeding him.
Most of the names mentioned to wear the colors of Macronie in 2027 are authentic personalities of the Republican right who had chosen to abandon their original political family to respond to the advances and work of seduction of Emmanuel Macron.
Among these names that shine in this race to take over Emmanuel Macron’s witness, we find the former Prime Minister, Édouard Philippe, who created a micro party Horizons to prepare for this battle. We also find the current Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, who is currently trying to sell French opinion on the idea that he would be the only bulwark against the arrival of the far right in power, even if it is up to him. borrow some ideas, some postures and some intonations of voice.
Finally, we find Bruno Le Maire who wants to exploit his role as the great fundraiser, determined and responsible, of the republic to position himself both as a possible alternative to Marine Le Pen and as the embodiment of this republican right.
Today, this Republican party is led by Éric Ciotti, who was recently elected leader of the party on the express condition of not running for president. The only name that stands out in this frantic search for leadership from the Republican right is Laurent Wauquiez, current chairman of the council of the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region.
The name of Laurent Wauquiez, whose charisma is debatable, is far from arousing the enthusiasm of the crowds, leaving the Republican party, already traumatized by the painful experience of the primaries, always in search of the providential man or woman. able to wear his colors and realize his dreams of one day returning to power.