Proportional: Édouard Philippe "unfavorable" to this voting method which would lead to a "lack of majority"

Former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe said on Thursday, May 22, that he was "unfavorable" to a proportional voting system for legislative elections, as François Bayrou would like, because, according to him, it would lead to a "lack of majority" and could "drain the link between voters and MPs."

"Proportional voting is more likely to perpetuate what we see today, that is, a lack of a majority," said the president of Horizons and declared presidential candidate, following a meeting of approximately 45 minutes with the Prime Minister on this subject.

"We believe that this lack of a majority makes it difficult, if not impossible, to take decisive action, which our country needs," he added.

Furthermore, "proportional voting tends mechanically to distance and weaken the link between voters and MPs," argued Édouard Philippe, who was accompanied by Paul Christophe, leader of the Horizons MPs, Claude Malhuret, Horizons president of the Independents, Republic and Territories senators' group, and Pierre-Yves Bournazel, deputy secretary general of the party and candidate in the Paris municipal elections.

The accumulation of mandates, supported by both men, was not addressed during the exchange, according to Édouard Philippe, who had previously said that he could support proportional representation if it were possible to combine a parliamentary mandate with a local executive mandate.

On April 30, François Bayrou began a series of consultations with political forces on the proportional election of deputies.

The head of government is defending full proportional representation by department as in 1986, whereas since the establishment of the Fifth Republic - with the exception of the legislative elections of that year - deputies have been elected by a two-round majority single-member constituency system.

On Thursday, he told Horizons representatives "his willingness to submit" a bill based on the 1986 model. This could be examined in the fall.

But the Prime Minister is not guaranteed the support of Macron's supporters this time, who now consider the current majority voting system to be "the least bad."

On the right, Les Républicains are firmly opposed to proportional representation. Their new president, Bruno Retailleau, is scheduled to meet on the subject next week.

The RN, which is in favour of proportional representation with a majority bonus, has indicated that it could accommodate the 1986 model.

La France Insoumise advocates proportional representation "at a regional level" and the Socialist Party, divided, has not yet taken a position.

François Bayrou is due to meet Fabien Roussel for the Communist Party on Thursday afternoon, then Marc Fesneau for his party, the MoDem, and Raphaël Glucksmann for the Place publique movement on Friday.