Emmanuel Macron had no qualms. On Sunday, June 16, the French president, with his party leaders and a handful of ministers, fine-tuned the campaign strategy for the June 30 and July 7 parliamentary elections. The line is clear, but the path is narrow. It's a question, he said, of exemplifying the "useful" vote and supporting the candidates best placed to fight against the "extremes." The president has referred to these extremes as "LFI [La France Insoumise] and associates," targeting the newly formed left-wing Nouveau Front Populaire alliance, which has brought together the Socialists, the Greens, the radical left LFI and the Communists; and "RN [Rassemblement National] and associates," pointing to Marine Le Pen's far-right party and part of the conservative Les Républicans (LR) party. "In that case, aren't we supporting François Hollande?" asked one of the meeting's participants. "No, he's allied with LFI," replied Macron, who served as deputy secretary general of the Elysée as well as minister of the economy under former president François Hollande.

The day before, the former Socialist president announced that he would run for MP under the banner of the Nouveau Front Populaire. This came 48 hours after he had welcomed the alliance forged between the various left-wing parties, even though he was "unaware of the details," he admitted on French television network TF1's evening news program.

Hollande has repeatedly condemned LFI and its leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, for their excessiveness. On October 22, 2023, he suggested on TV that they were "the problem of the left." But at a time when the far right "has never been so close to power," he has been silent about his differences. The endorsement from the representative of the moderate left lent the New Popular Front a degree of respectability, which took Macron by surprise. His response came swiftly.

On Sunday evening, the presidential camp announced that it would not present a candidate in Corrèze, central France, where Hollande is running. However, this was not to help Hollande. The support actually went to LR candidate Francis Dubois. It doesn't matter that in March 2023, Dubois voted for the motion of no confidence aimed at bringing down the government after the pension reform was examined in the Assemblée Nationale. "It's forgotten," said presidential ally Hervé Marseille. "If there's one person who can beat Hollande, it's him [Dubois]," continued Marseille. An attitude that "doesn't measure up to the stakes," sighed the former Socialist president's entourage. "Distressing... How small!" said Gaspard Gantzer, François Hollande's ally and former spin doctor.

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