Attal proposes a center-right primary for 2027 as Philippe and the Republicans rebuff it
Gabriel Attal, the former prime minister who formally entered the 2027 presidential race on May 22, said on Brut that the centrist bloc may need a primary to keep its vote from splitting and ceding the runoff to La France Insoumise and the National Rally. He has convened a liaison committee with Edouard Philippe's Horizons and Francois Bayrou's MoDem that has met once. Both Philippe and the Republicans rejected the idea, with Philippe saying there is "no place for this primary" given how wide the field is and how little the parties trust one another.
Gabriel Attal, the Renaissance party leader and former prime minister, said the centrist bloc may have to organise a primary before the 2027 presidential election to stop its vote from fragmenting. Speaking on Brut on Sunday, three days after formally declaring his candidacy on May 22, Attal cast the move as insurance against a second-round contest between the far-left La France Insoumise and the far-right National Rally. "If in early 2027 there is a risk of this LFI-RN second round, where the political space I occupy cannot be represented because the vote is dispersed, then obviously a coming-together will be needed," he said. "Will it be candidates standing down? Will it be a primary at that point to decide who the candidate is, who will represent this space? It is not yet decided. In any case, I have made a proposal to come together."
Attal has set up a liaison committee bringing together representatives of his Renaissance party, Edouard Philippe's Horizons and Francois Bayrou's MoDem to "prepare for this deadline." The committee has met only once so far.
The proposal drew no support from the figure ideologically closest to Attal. Philippe, who in recent weeks has been cast as the bloc's early favourite, has rejected the idea of a primary for months and repeated his refusal on France 5's "C a Vous" on Saturday when asked about a contest stretching from the centre to Eric Zemmour's party: "There is no place for this primary, because the political field is far too wide and trust between the parties is far too weak."
Widening the field to the Republican right offered Attal no opening either. Francois-Xavier Bellamy, a deputy to LR leader Bruno Retailleau, sidestepped the primary question on franceinfo on Monday to make clear he would never fall in behind Attal. "In 2027, France does not need to continue with those who built Macronism and those who, like Gabriel Attal, also practised socialism in power," Bellamy said. "It will be hard to convince us that he is the one who can deliver the change the French so badly need."