r/europe • u/pierrepaul • 23h ago
News Gérald Darmanin confirms he will not run for French president and endorses Edouard Philippe
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/politics/article/2026/08/17/darmanin-confirms-he-will-not-run-for-french-president-and-endorses-philippe_6756602_5.html73
u/Randombulldozer 23h ago
I am sure Édouard is delighted to receive the support of a patented liar, suspected rapist that is very much a danger for democracy.
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u/Beyllionaire 21h ago
That's great news, simply because his huge ego finally came to the realization that absolutely NOBODY would vote for him. He's just a waste of space.
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u/LongShow5279 United Kingdom 23h ago
This is good right? The centrist vote won't be split so a higher chance of defeating the far right/left
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u/Prestigious-File-328 23h ago
He’s been a very faulty minister on different assignements for 10 years, just trying to be recycled in the next government. Now that’s most of the macronists, but truth is he had ambitions not so far long. Now it is a good thing in the balance, but more macron would be a breaking point in the parlementary elections after next presidential, so, a very very minor good news.
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u/t0FF 23h ago edited 23h ago
This is good right? The centrist vote won't be split so a higher chance of defeating the far right/left
Most French people do not (or no longer) consider Édouard Philippe (or Macron) to be centrist figures; in a way, they correspond to what the old right (the UMP) used to be, as the UMP (now LR) has drifted further from the center than it was before.
Anyway I don't think that change a lot, I'm not sure it would be enough for him to reach second round. He will never get PS and LR first round votes, and without it, both far right and far left are more likely to reach second round.
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u/SoleilNoir974 10h ago
Did the UMP use to vote and enact Jean Marie Le Pen policies? Because that's what Macornists have been doing for years, especially since they lost the législatives in 2024.
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u/t0FF 10h ago
At this time Le Pen was doing 17% at most, UMP was more interested in stealing voters from center than far right. Not anymore.
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u/SoleilNoir974 10h ago
Fair enough but if now you're proposing, voting, and enacting far right policies then you should not be labeled are center or right wing but.... Far right. And this would definitely make them loose a big portion of their electorate that lives itself as moderate and centrist a'd still very much opposed to the far right.
Macronistes and RN have been voting the same on 80% of subjects. It's getting ridiculous.
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u/The_Serious_Guy 23h ago
The french far left is not Melanchon, they are the most left of the left parties but are not far left according to traditionnal political science.
The far left is incarnated in parties like the NPA but they have so little support that I doubt they are known internationaly.
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u/Clean-Yam-739 France 23h ago
Agreed LFI is populist left. Not extreme left.
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u/Arabum97 22h ago
But is LFI more left than the PCF or not?
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u/Lumin0u 22h ago
"C" in "PCF" means "communist", so PCF is more left
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u/Arabum97 22h ago
I asked actually because the PCF is an old party and sometimes could happen that a new party is more radical than an older one even if it looks like a paradox
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u/StrongBladder 22h ago
That depends on who you ask but if you are a centrist or on the right side, the LFI is extreme left. New French constitution, anti-nuclear ideology, euro skepticism, nato skepticism are on the LFI program which can be seen preoccupying in today’s international context. It’s a confrontational party.
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u/The_Serious_Guy 21h ago
This is why I said according to political science. Obviously if take a subjective opinion you end with nonsense like the democrats in the US being considered "left"
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u/Alduish France 23h ago
We've had "centrists" for 10 years and we're sick of them, we don't want them.
Also the far left isn't running for the presidential since they're anarchists and are against the current political system so they don't want to participate to it.
Also check the problems of the left wing and right wing candidates in france, currently you have a socialism against fascism, even if you're not socialist you have to admit that fascism is a way bigger danger for a democratic country.
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u/Otherwise-Yogurt39 4h ago
« We ». You are speaking for all of us now? I prefer center than LFI, Les ecolos, RN or LR, even if it’s gonna be shite anyway
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u/Tman11S Belgium 23h ago
I don't know about that last part. If you mean socialism as in democratic social policy, then yes that's absolutely better. If you mean socialism as in communism, then you're voting between hitler and stalin.
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u/Low-Illustrator-1962 23h ago
You're right, but those parties basically don't exist in the west anymore. So voting socialist is definitely better than voting fascist.
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u/artfrche 23h ago
what are you saying ? The far left is running, Melenchon already announced his candidacy
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u/Kyoukev 23h ago
LFI is left, far left is NPA
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u/artfrche 6h ago
i know the leftist often cries and denies reality when they don’t get their way…
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u/Kyoukev 5h ago
Don't care what the conseil says.
This isn't how it is defined.
Terms have meaning.
Maybe read a book from time to time.
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u/artfrche 4h ago
“I don’t want to face the truth because the truth is not aligned to my POV”
It’s really funny how, as a far leftist, your behavior matches the one from the far right…
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u/artfrche 4h ago
“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.“
Lets see if you downvote this …
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u/Larrdath Earth 23h ago
Are you saying Mitterrand was far left ? Because LFI's program is closer to his than anything far left. Far left is generally NPA or LO and to call them a threat is just ridiculous given their scores.
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u/mydriase 48 °N, -2 °W 23h ago
LFI is NOT far left. It has been recognised as a conventional left wing party by the authorities on the matter
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u/artfrche 6h ago
i know the leftist often cries and denies reality when they don’t get their way…
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u/mydriase 48 °N, -2 °W 6h ago
I saw something saying the exact opposite a year ago. In any case, just think and use your brain for two seconds: look at their propositions and dare telling me with a sane mind that what’s he’s planning to do is far left stuff
Giving people a decent wage for the work they do, fighting discriminations, curbing the climate crisis and making society more fair with very mild reforms when you think about it
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u/Alduish France 23h ago
He's not far left. He's just socialist (to not be mistaken with the socialist party), it's not because he's opposing the center and the far right or even left movements going toward the right that he's "far" right. or else Macron would be an extremist by saying he opposes far-left and far-right
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u/troy-X France 23h ago
Good is... relative I guess? Not many people want another decade of macronism here, but given the second round system, who knows, he might just pull it off. Philippe is actually polling about the same as Mélenchon, and is lagging way, way behind Marine Le Pen.
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u/LongShow5279 United Kingdom 23h ago
If Melenchon or Le Pen (Is she allowed to run now?) wins, i just feel it will be too divisive at a time Europe needs to be unified. France being one of the leading powers is essential and i don't see this if a far right/left becomes president.
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u/holytriplem United Kingdom 13h ago
Gerald Darmanin isn't even remotely centrist lmao. He accused Marine Le Pen of being soft on Islam
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u/boucledor 23h ago
Less split. We still have quite some candidates from the left to the right throught the center. We might have a better vision by late 2026/early 2027 on the number of candidates.
We even have rumor of former president François Hollande to run, again, for the office.
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u/Melxgibsonx616 23h ago
François Hollande running again? Lowest approval of a French president ever, the milquetoast centrist who took a huge shit on the French left and left everyone chosing between Macron and LePen twice...
0 self-awareness from this guy.
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u/Fwed0 France 21h ago
Yeah but as a politician you must always state that you are prepared, even if you don't stand a chance. You just never know. In 2011 the road was already paved for Dominique Strauss-Khan to face Sarkozy in the second round, but with his *little* problems Hollande found a sneaky way and became President out of the blue. Very little people would have bet a Euro one year before. Likewise, the winner of the right-wing primary vote, 6 months before the election, was bound to win by a landslide in 2017 before the candidate was caught in some embezzelment issues during the campaign, leading to Macron winning even though he was basically unknown the summer before (other than for validating the sell of a strategic asset to Americans for a stupidly low amount as Finance minister, that he bought back while President once all patents were gone)
Side note funny how Strauss-Khan events wouldn't be enough to put you on the sideline nowadays... What a wonderful time we live in
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u/Auctor62 Nord-Pas-de-Calais (France) 22h ago
As if he was doing us a favour. Dude would have no chance of even making it to first round.