Opposition leader Emmanuel Macron has been criticized for voting in France

France’s first general election left many politicians in a state of shock and disillusionment. But not only Xavier Bertrand, who was unstable this week as he helped his supporters in the hurricane-hit Dunkirk.

The politician received so many votes in northern Hauts-de-France that it gave him a chance to run against President Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen in next year’s presidential election – a contest he had already announced.

In contrast, the National Peninsula on the right of Le Pen did worse than expected last week, and the ruling Macron La République en Marche did so poorly that it did not qualify for a second Sunday of voting in four of France’s 13 constituencies.

Bertrand is the rightful leader of a developed region that includes Lille, Calais and Amiens, a position he won six years ago with the help of parties that left him severely beaten by Le Pen in the first round. This time it completely changed around the round, getting 41% of the vote against 24% of the RN.

“We have managed to push back the National Front,” he told the Financial Times after Monday night’s meeting with local mayors and other donors in rainy Téteghem, near Dunkirk. “I know I have a special responsibility to get them back home, to free their jaws, and to break the jaws of the Front National.”

With his eye on the Elysée Palace in 2022, 56-year-old Bertrand is determined to dispel the notion that Macron is the best defense against Le Pen. He also wants to address the predictions of those who would argue that presidential elections should end with the same Macron-Le Pen run-off that Macron won in 2017.

As many activists fight for freedom, they call the anti-immigrant party the old and ugly name “National Front” given by its founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, instead of using the “National Rally” where she was rebaptized with her daughter A Marine, who has tried to re-establish an organization known for its racism and anti-Semitism.

“There is no ‘new look’ in the French Front National Front. They are exactly the same, ”said Bertrand. “I know that he cannot control his spending. Lies, slander and deception – these are very clever ways. ”

However, even a landslide victory this Sunday will not guarantee Bertrand an easy path to the French president.

Bertrand has experience in government as a former health minister and minister of labor, as well as being the mayor of St Quentin and overseeing one of the regional councils, whose main responsibility is to govern rather than favors economic or legal problems. and calm.

However, he is facing stiff opposition from some of his favorite politicians, Les Républicains – who left now to run for the Elysée.

Opponents include Valérie Pécresse, who also left the LR to pursue her ambitions, and Laurent Wauquiez, who could win Sunday’s state of Ile-de-France around Paris and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in the southeast.

Bertrand, says Christèle Lagier, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Avignon, “strengthened his position, his credibility” after completing his first degree. “But the competition between Les Républicains is going to be very tough. . . I hope his family politically lined up with lots of banana skins. Just don’t give. ”

Vincent Martigny, a professor of politics at the University of Nice, acknowledged that Bertrand had strengthened his position, but also spoke of the coming war between the right-wing president.

“The problem is that one thing is not fixed – how we can create a primary among the various anti-Macron leaders on the right,” he said.

“It is possible that Pécresse and Wauquiez will do well in next Sunday’s election, and may want to be re-elected, among others. They have to ask how the right leader will be elected.”

At the moment, Macron is on a campaign and it seems unlikely that he will ever stop wanting to be France’s first re-elected president since Jacques Chirac in 2002.

According to the report, Macron and Bertrand are very close, especially since Macron – who used to campaign as “neither right nor left” – has moved to the right in the last two years, fighting Muslims, enforcing law and order and declaring borders on the move. Both men also encouraged the sale of factories in northern France, especially batteries used in electric vehicles, in order to reduce reliance on Asia.

The analysts say that, while Macron was frustrated by the poor performance of his party on Sunday, which was only formed in 2016, it would not be wise to get more opinion on the results of at least a number of regional elections. Only three voters – and at least a fifth of those under the age of 35 – had difficulty voting.

“It is not clear that this is detrimental to Macron, as the presidential election is a global one and focuses on the personalities of those who want it,” Lagier said.

This is one reason why Bertrand, strong and resilient, portrays himself as a mountaineer, comparing himself to the wise Macron. “I bring a lot of wisdom,” he said.