Towards resignation? Bruno Retailleau refuses to defend the proportional vote wanted by François Bayrou

Proportional representation will not be approved by Bruno Retailleau. The Minister of the Interior and new leader of the Republicans declared on Monday, June 2, that he will refuse to "carry out" such a reform of the voting system for the legislative elections, as desired by François Bayrou.

Could these disagreements lead him to resign from the Interior Ministry? "All options are open," added Bruno Retailleau after a meeting lasting more than an hour with the head of government, Laurent Wauquiez, leader of the Republican Right deputies, and Mathieu Darnaud, president of the LR group in the Senate.

"The dispersal that the (proportional) voting system would lead to is in reality deeply destabilizing for the country," he argued.

"At a time when decisions need to be made, proportional voting, through this ungovernability, would ultimately lead to a form of powerlessness, of public powerlessness."

Bruno Retailleau also stressed that proportional representation would "once again further tear rural France apart from more urban France," recalling that the right was "attached" to the fact that "there should be roots," a "link between the MP, his territory and the population he represents."

Last week, the LR political bureau expressed in a press release its "firm opposition" to a reform of the voting method for the legislative elections.

Calling for the introduction of proportional representation, François Bayrou began consultations with party leaders and the presidents of parliamentary groups represented in the Palais Bourbon at the end of April. A draft law could be examined in the fall.

The Prime Minister 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 vote.

In addition to the arguments put forward by Bruno Retailleau, the right has another good reason for being so opposed to the adoption of proportional representation, which could lead to the loss of many seats in the National Assembly.

According to the terms presented by François Bayrou and the simulations of BFMTV.com , LR would be among the big losers of such a change in the rules of the game since if it had been adopted before the 2024 legislative elections, they would have only seen 22 of their own elected as deputies and not 67.