Emmanuel Macron’s party “La Republique En Marche”, in English known as the “Republic on the Move”, has yet to secure the majority of candidates in the country’s National Assembly.

The battle has only just begun for Emmanuel Macron’s party. The presidential election that they claimed victory over on Sunday is just the first hurdle of many. The next obstacle is to secure a majority after the June Parliamentary election.

The next obstacle is to secure a majority after the June Parliamentary election.
On Thursday, the party’s Secretary General Richard Ferrand released a list of 428 candidates.

Ninety-five per cent of the candidates are members of the National Assembly, which works well with Macron’s direction of reshaping the French political environment. However, some experts pointed out that the candidates may also be greatly influenced by their own objective circumstances.

However, some experts pointed out that the candidates may also be greatly influenced by their own objective circumstances.

“French laws state that if an NA member is to work as a mayor, he will have to choose only one title from the two options. So many people gave up their membership,” explained Dominique Reynie, Professor of Sciencespo and CEO of Fondapol.

Moreover, 52 per cent of the people on the candidate list are new to the world of politics, made up of everyday workers such as teachers and businessmen.

Experts say that this move may agree with some of the voters’ request for working professional NA members, but other voters may not believe that these candidates have enough experience in politics.

“It takes some risk. Perhaps some of the candidates of ‘La Republique En Marche’ (Macron’s party) have a stronger capability compared to other ones. But it’s difficult for them to work in a political election, compared to experienced National Assembly members,” said Reynie.

For the candidates given by “La Republique En Marche”, 24 of them are NA members who will fulfil their tenures, from left-wing parties.

Public opinions indicate that if Macron’s administration wants to give their final name list with 577 candidates, they will require a further 149 names, which will leave some space for right-wing parties to enter the NA.

However, the members of “La Republique En Marche” and right-wing parties are playing a waiting game as the candidate for the French Prime Minister (PM) still remains unconfirmed.

“If Macron announces a PM from right-wing parties, probably more members of Republican Party will shift to support La Republique En Marche. However, it is highly doubtful to expect over 100 people to take the same action,” said Reynie.

The deadline for submitting the list of all candidates is May 19. Now opinion polls show that the new “Republique En Marche”, which was formerly known as “En Marche”, has recently gained much more support, than the right-wing Republican party and far-right-wing “Front National”.

However, there is still a huge divergence between left-wing and right-wing parties on the issue of allying or resisting with “La Republique En Marche”.

In addition, some parties like “Front National” also face a huge dilemma – one of the only two NA members in the party, Marion Marechal-Le Pen, niece of Marine Le Pen, decided to remove herself from the election, which will change the situation completely.

“It is a bad news for ‘Front National’, because Marion is very popular. She holds similar political opinions to the voters who support the party,” said Reynie.

Reuters