Legislative branch: Attal in majority leaflet, but not Macron, for the first time since 2016

Anyone who remembers that the 2016 En Marche logo was designed using Emmanuel Macron’s initials and was written in his hand can only appreciate the turning point printed there. For the first time since he began to conquer the Elysee Palace, Emmanuel Macron does not appear in his camp’s campaign leaflet, collected under the slogan “Together for the Republic” for the legislative elections.

This four-sheet booklet, which we received with the purpose of presenting the general contours of the “project,” opens with a large photograph – a whole page! – from Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. And it ends with the message: “Since June 30, there is only one question: who to govern? “Everyone is aimed, without going into details, at the “extreme left bloc led by LFI” and the “extreme right bloc led by RN” one after another. “With so little time to campaign, we need to keep it simple. There’s no need to carry 10,000 messages,” says the Renaissance HQ pillar. Once again, the marchers enter into this duel established by Emmanuel Macron, in the mode of “us” or “chaos in the country”, “ruin of our economy” – it is written in black and white on page 4.

But this time without the president. And for good reason. As soon as the European election campaign was lost, MPs and activists warned early in the battle: leaflets with Emmanuel Macron’s photo were harshly rejected in the markets. However, in May the head of state did appear together with Valerie Hayer in the program booklets. “All the candidates who campaigned for Europeans heard this phrase every day: Oh no he’s not “,” the minister testifies.

On Monday, during Gabriel Attal’s campaign trip to Val-de-Marne, an observer sharply challenged the prime minister: “We will have to tell the president to shut his mouth.” A scene immortalized by cameras. “They tell us this twice an hour,” says the Macronist candidate behind the microphone… The photograph of the head of state does not appear in the leaflet of the “Youth Movement with Macron,” the youth branch of the presidential party…

This time, with defeat seemingly imminent, several senior members of the majority asked him to step aside. Including publicly. As a result, the president’s face disappeared from the leaflets. How to lay the foundation for a new distribution of roles? Officially – or, you might say, in the photo – Emmanuel Macron has appointed Gabriel Attal to lead this difficult battle. In fact, the head of state continues to increase the number of incursions into the countryside. Throw away the natural…