Perfidy, a political virtue? When, in France, the dominant outsider claims to impose its interests against the will of the people

Perfidy is not the monopoly that many Europeans ascribe to our neighbours across the Channel. Since his first term in office, the French head of state has shown himself to be one of his most loyal professionals: on labour issues, on pensions, on the fight against pesticides, on the water privileges granted to industrial farmers, on the fight against PFAS (persistent pollutants), on the war in Ukraine and the genocide of the Palestinians (and the Kurds), on the policy of “shared community”…

The latest manifestation concerns his behaviour after the results of the second round (7th July) of the legislative elections, which were called because of his improvised decision to dissolve the National Assembly after the disastrous European elections for his political camp. For the sake of form, the declared aim was to make a national leap against the threat of a strong right-wing takeover.

The results were not what he wanted. Therefore, in accordance with the rules and practices of the Fifth Republic, he did not want to entrust the task of forming a new government to the political bloc – the New People’s Front, on the left – that had become the country’s leading political force in the National Assembly. He refused to give up his government and, since 8 July, has been trying to create a so-called “republican” alliance around his political camp, to which he intends to entrust the formation of the new government and from which, he says, the LFI (La France Insoumise), the promoter of the New People’s Front (LFI), will be excluded.

No one denies the right and freedom of the President of the Republic not to like the ideas and choices proposed by the LFI. But to decide not to respect the will expressed by the electorate and, what is more, to obstruct the LFI by accusing it of not belonging to the republican sphere, is pure political arbitrariness and an unconstitutional abuse of authoritarian power.

The perfidy is considerable, manifest. It is based on a puzzling analysis of the election results. According to Macron, the results show that none of the three political blocs – Ensemble and Allies (presidential camp), Rassemblement National (Le Pen-Bardella) and NFP Nouveau Front Populaire (LFI, Socialists, Ecologists/Greens and PCF) – won because there was no absolute majority of seats. According to this logic, no single bloc is able to guarantee a strong and stable government. Macron concludes that it is necessary to reconfigure the national political landscape by negotiating a new alliance between all the parties of the so-called republican camp.

This is a false analysis and a biased and illegitimate political objective, because it is the opposite of the choice expressed by the voters. Around the world, the media and political observers have rightly spoken of two major surprises and one early observation.

The first surprise is the failure of the far right/RN to win an absolute majority, all the more surprising given that it came third in terms of seats in the National Assembly (while all the polls predicted a landslide victory for the RN).

Second surprise: the unexpected victory of the NFP, which has become the leading political force in the National Assembly in terms of seats, beyond the expectations even of its supporters. First observation: the presidential bloc has fallen to second place in terms of seats.

It is not true that nobody won. The only one that did not win is the presidential bloc. It is clearly the only major loser of votes and seats in the elections. Moreover, its loss could have been significant had it not been for the NFP’s withdrawal in favour of the presidential bloc and against the RN candidates, which contributed to the reduction in the number of seats won by the RN, a retreat that further highlights the perfidy involved.

Although the RN did not win a majority of seats, it won the largest number of votes (8.7 million), an unprecedented result, ahead of the NFP (7.0 million) and the presidential bloc (6.3 million). In fact, it has won a massive popular mandate that guarantees it a significant political force for the future (*).

The unprecedented winner is clearly the NFP. This shows once again that in France the left can win when it is united, but systematically loses when it is divided.

Will Macron’s perfidy succeed in winning a real election theft? Trump failed in his coup despite a violent attack on the Capitol by his supporters. Macron’s authoritarian coup is unlikely to succeed if important NFP groups in the socialist, environmental and green camps are complicit in the baiting of power, in the open betrayal of commitments made and/or the resurgence of mistrust and personal rivalries. At the moment there are signs that the chances of this happening are slim. So much the better.

In our societies, politics does not need to see that perfidy pays. The dominant hypocritically discredit politics. Corruption, lies, disregard for constitutional charters and laws, the subordination of politics to the interests of private economic and financial groups… are the most effective destroyers of coexistence, social justice, democracy and freedom.

(*) The discrepancy between the number of votes won and the number of seats won is due to the French electoral system based on the two-round majority system. Only one candidate wins in each round; the system favours voting based on candidates (individuals) and not on lists.