(Bloomberg) — President Emmanuel Macron hasn’t been seen since he was spotted strolling the streets of the French coastal town of Le Touquet in dark sunglasses and a leather bomber jacket, hours before the magnitude of his defeat in parliamentary elections became clear.
The spontaneous sighting prompted comments on social media that he was trying to imitate Tom Cruise in Top Gun, but it was his final public appearance after his Renaissance party was heavily defeated by Marine Le Pen’s National Rally on Sunday night in a vote called three weeks ago.
Before the election began, his aides wanted him to keep a low profile given his unpopularity, but the famously talkative president couldn’t contain himself, giving a two-hour podcast interview in which he warned that France would face “civil war” if his rival won.
If the country is on edge, it is largely due to a decision that many, including his closest allies, considered reckless to dissolve the National Assembly following his loss to Le Pen in the European elections.
The president’s absence came as his aides tried to chart a path out of political annihilation. He holed up in the Elysee Palace and presided over a cabinet meeting at midday on Monday.
Many ministers left the meeting with grim expressions on their faces. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal looked visibly shaken as he walked down the palace stairs. Agriculture Minister Agnes Panier-Runacher was seen gesticulating anxiously while speaking to someone and at one point was seen covering her face.
At the rally, Macron said he believed the far-right was close to a total victory and that without the votes of the left he would not have been elected president in 2017 or 2022, according to a participant who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Whether Le Pen can win an absolute or relative majority will depend on French people being able to maintain the so-called Republican Front, a tactic designed to rally around the top candidate in a runoff election and thwart the far right.
The strategy has been successful in the past in thwarting the far-right, notably against Jean-Marie Le Pen in the 2002 presidential election, but its effectiveness is waning as some of Macron’s allies refuse to back candidates from the left-leaning New Popular Front, which includes the far-left party Remain France.
The president’s group received just 20% of the vote nationwide and has yet to offer a clear guidepost. In a short written statement on Sunday night, Macron called for a “big democratic-republican coalition” to counter Le Pen’s National Rally.
But it is unclear whether the group will include all candidates from France’s Unbowed party, which accused its candidates of anti-Semitism after the Hamas attacks in October because of their support for the Gaza Strip.
Macron’s aides did not respond to requests for clarification, and a person familiar with the government’s thinking said decisions would likely be made on a case-by-case basis.
So far, Mr Macron has left the speaking duties to 35-year-old Prime Minister Attal, who has been in office for just six months and is more popular than Mr Macron. Attal is scheduled to appear on television at 8 p.m., effectively filling in for the president.
As for President Macron, whatever happened to the leader who famously struck a combative pose in black-and-white photos to resemble a raging bull? His supporters will be waiting for the militant to make an appearance.
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