The smile will quickly give way to grimace soup.
Elected for the first time (52.46% in the sixth constituency of Calvados, ahead of a candidate from Nupes) this Sunday, June 19, Elisabeth Borne has won her bet.
But the joy was quickly cut short by the dirty evening of the presidential majority in this second round of legislative elections.
“She wanted to make this victory a political springboard for the future, it will be more complicated than that”, commented in the evening a member of the government.
Because, very quickly, voices began to rise to question the maintenance of the Prime Minister at Matignon.
First, in the ranks of the opposition, like Rachida Dati on TF1, who asked Emmanuel Macron "to draw the consequences of this election by changing Prime Minister".
But also in those of the majority: "For her, it will be ungovernable, the president must as soon as possible replace her with a very political Prime Minister and from the right", insists a pillar of the executive, pushing the names of Bruno Le Maire, or of the ex-LR Catherine Vautrin, a time approached to succeed Jean Castex.
“She will do the job, and she will end up popular”
But Borne has not said its last word.
A month ago, when Macron appointed her to Matignon, she took her risk by conditioning her maintenance on rue de Varenne to a victory in the legislative elections.
"Yet he didn't ask her anything.
But it was she who insisted.
She judged that it was essential for her legitimacy.
It shows her strength of character”, slips her entourage, who recalls that “nothing forced her to do so in view of her career: she was prefect, director of cabinet of Ségolène Royal at the Ministry of Ecology and president of the RATP .
She has proven herself in many areas.
In recent weeks, Borne has therefore rubbed shoulders with electoral terrain, she who had never led a campaign until now.
With sometimes harsh exchanges on the ground.
Like last week, when she was again questioned by a woman on the Abad affair.
Consult the results of the legislative elections, constituency by constituency.
Follow the results in particular in Paris, Marseille or Lyon.
As well as the results in the districts of Hauts-de-Seine, Val-de-Marne, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-d'Oise, Essonne, Seine-et-Marne, Yvelines and in Oise.
But the hardest part is yet to come for her: to deal with a small majority in the hemicycle, and above all to make herself known and loved by the French, while internally, some criticize her for a certain transparency.
What she will try to correct this week, by giving a long confessional interview to Paris Match.
Then the next with the weekly Elle.
VIDEO.
Re-elected, Elisabeth Borne assures that she will work to "build a majority of action"
“Born, we cannot judge her on her first days.
Remember that we said the same about Édouard Philippe and Jean Castex at the start.
Then they revealed themselves”, recalls a close friend of Emmanuel Macron who is betting: “She will do the job, and she will end up popular”.
A challenge these days.
