{"version":"1.9","identifier":"4d5f334d-7f4b-49f3-a9a9-1c15d2f8c179","language":"en-US","title":"Attal calls a center-right primary 'inevitable' after Philippe says it will not happen","layout":{"columns":7,"width":1024,"margin":32,"gutter":20},"componentLayouts":{"text":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"maximumContentWidth":720,"margin":{"top":12,"bottom":12}},"photo":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"margin":{"top":20,"bottom":20}}},"componentTextStyles":{"default":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"textColor":"#171717"},"headline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue-Bold","fontSize":36,"lineHeight":42,"conditional":[{"conditions":{"maxViewportWidth":480},"fontSize":28,"lineHeight":34}]},"intro":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":20,"lineHeight":28,"textColor":"#555555"},"caption":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":19,"textColor":"#666666"},"byline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":20,"textColor":"#666666"},"body":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"paragraphSpacingAfter":14,"linkStyle":{"textColor":"#00704a"}}},"metadata":{"canonicalURL":"https://567politics.com/news/france-center-right-primary-attal-philippe-november-2026","datePublished":"2026-11-03T02:19:50.996693Z","dateModified":"2026-11-03T02:22:57.486739Z","authors":["567politics News Desk"],"excerpt":"Philippe rejected Attal's primary on TF1 and Attal answered a day later, as rivals set terms and a Toluna poll shows no center candidate ahead of Mélenchon.","thumbnailURL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/4d5f334d-7f4b-49f3-a9a9-1c15d2f8c179/5a5401232d5bce0c907704300ef33302.jpg","keywords":["fr"],"generatorName":"Frog News","generatorVersion":"1.0"},"components":[{"role":"title","text":"Attal calls a center-right primary 'inevitable' after Philippe says it will not happen","textStyle":"headline","layout":"text"},{"role":"intro","text":"Philippe rejected Attal's primary on TF1 and Attal answered a day later, as rivals set terms and a Toluna poll shows no center candidate ahead of Mélenchon.","textStyle":"intro","layout":"text"},{"role":"byline","text":"By 567politics News Desk · Published November 3, 2026","textStyle":"byline","layout":"text"},{"role":"photo","URL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/4d5f334d-7f4b-49f3-a9a9-1c15d2f8c179/5a5401232d5bce0c907704300ef33302.jpg","caption":"Édouard Philippe speaks at the closing plenary of Renaissance's CAMPUS 2023 event on October 8, 2023. · Stanislas Ferrari via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0","accessibilityCaption":"Édouard Philippe speaks at the closing plenary of Renaissance's CAMPUS 2023 event on October 8, 2023.","layout":"photo"},{"role":"caption","text":"Édouard Philippe speaks at the closing plenary of Renaissance's CAMPUS 2023 event on October 8, 2023. · Stanislas Ferrari via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0","textStyle":"caption","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"Gabriel Attal said on Monday that a primary to choose a single candidate for France's center and right is \"inevitable.\" A day earlier, Édouard Philippe had said he would not take part in one and predicted it would never happen. The two former prime ministers under Emmanuel Macron both plan to run for president in April 2027. Their dispute now shapes a wider argument across the center and the right about how, or whether, to narrow a crowded field before the first round.\n\nAttal, the Renaissance candidate and the party's secretary general, first proposed what he called a \"great primary of democrats\" on TF1's evening news on Wednesday, October 28. Philippe, the Horizons candidate and mayor of Le Havre, gave his answer on the same program on Sunday, November 1. Attal replied on TF1's morning show on Monday, November 2.\n\nThis report sets out what each side said, who else has taken a position, and what the most recent published poll shows about the field. Quotes from French-language sources are 567politics translations. For background on the candidates, see our profiles of [Gabriel Attal](https://567politics.com/politicians/gabriel-attal), [Édouard Philippe](https://567politics.com/politicians/edouard-philippe) and [Bruno Retailleau](https://567politics.com/politicians/bruno-retailleau), and our [France issues guide](https://567politics.com/issues/france).\n\n## What Attal proposed\n\nOn October 28, Attal told TF1 that the primary was meant to \"prevent a second round from which our country would not recover between La France insoumise and the Rassemblement national,\" [BFMTV reported](https://www.bfmtv.com/politique/elections/presidentielle/il-est-temps-d-etre-tous-responsables-gabriel-attal-appelle-a-l-organisation-d-une-grande-primaire-des-democrates_AN-202610280880.html). \"It is time for all of us to be responsible and to organize the coming-together that millions of French people want, through a great primary,\" he said, according to [Europe 1](https://www.europe1.fr/politique/presidentielle-2027-gabriel-attal-franchit-le-pas-et-prone-une-primaire-des-democrates-1190208).\n\nHe did not name candidates. He said he was extending a hand to all who \"share a certain number of values.\" He listed the defense of the values of the Republic, \"notably authority, laïcité, the fight against discrimination, Europe and European construction, the competitiveness of our economy, social and ecological progress.\" He added a second test: \"a clear and firm refusal of any alliance with the far left or with the far right.\"\n\nAttal also drew on proposals that others had already made. He cited a \"charter of values\" suggested by Hervé Morin, the president of the Normandy region. He cited a vote \"by the end of January,\" the timetable put forward by MoDem leader [François Bayrou](https://567politics.com/politicians/francois-bayrou). And he suggested \"a symbolic contribution of one or two euros\" to vote, BFMTV reported. That would be far less than the 15 euros the Socialist Party charged voters in its own primary.\n\nHe also put pressure on those who stay out. People who choose \"to remain apart from this moment of coming-together,\" he said, \"will bear, in some way, the responsibility for division.\"\n\nThe move marked a shift. For months, Attal had said only that he was \"not opposed in principle\" to a primary, BFMTV reported. When he raised the idea in June, other parties in the center, including Horizons and the MoDem, pushed back. Bayrou has since come out for a primary of his own design, one that would run from the social-democratic left to the \"republican right.\"\n\n## Philippe's refusal\n\nPhilippe had signaled his view before Attal spoke. In an interview with Le Point published on Tuesday, October 27, he said: \"Primaries produce more resentment than unity. Moreover, their current supporters agree neither on the political scope nor on the rules of engagement.\" A primary running \"from the left to the right,\" as Bayrou suggests, \"makes little sense,\" he said. \"And a primary in which the loser does not support the winner, as David Lisnard proposes, is of little interest.\" BFMTV quoted the interview in its report on Attal's proposal.\n\nOn Sunday's TF1 evening news, Philippe went further. \"It is a primary of division, because the very principle of a primary is to press on the differences,\" he said, [according to France 24](https://www.france24.com/fr/france/20261101-pr%C3%A9sidentielle-2027-%C3%A9douard-philippe-refuse-de-participer-%C3%A0-une-primaire-source-de-division). \"We have to create common ground.\" He called it a \"primary of confusion\" too, \"because it brings together people who are the continuers of Macronism, for Mr. Attal, and others who hold out a hand to the union of the right.\"\n\n\"I think it will not take place,\" Philippe said. He said it would bring together \"people who do not agree, who have in fact said several times that they did not want to work with one another.\"\n\nPhilippe did not rule out that the field would narrow. He pointed to February. \"In February, everyone will take their responsibilities,\" he said, [TF1info reported](https://www.tf1info.fr/politique/elections/presidentielle/en-bref-presidentielle-2027-ce-qu-il-faut-retenir-de-l-intervention-d-edouard-philippe-dans-le-20h-de-tf1-2473247.html). He applied the same test to himself. \"If the French have clearly decided they want to move on to something else,\" he said, \"I will draw the conclusions.\" He said all the candidates \"are legitimate\" and that those with proposals should be able to set them out on \"school, health, balancing the public accounts, preserving pensions.\"\n\nHis allies had already taken the same line. Laurent Marcangeli leads the Horizons group in the National Assembly. He had said earlier that a runoff between La France insoumise and the Rassemblement national would not be avoided by \"this 'at the same time', as muddled as it is risky,\" [HuffPost France reported](https://www.huffingtonpost.fr/politique/article/c-est-une-primaire-de-la-division-et-de-la-confusion-philippe-enterre-l-idee-d-attal_350001.html). \"At the same time\" is a phrase closely tied to Macron's politics.\n\n## Attal's reply on Monday\n\nAttal returned to TF1 on Monday morning. \"In the end, I believe this primary will take place. It is inevitable,\" he said, [LCP reported](https://lcp.fr/actualites/c-est-ineluctable-gabriel-attal-s-accroche-a-sa-primaire-malgre-le-refus-d-edouard).\n\nHe framed the choice as a matter of who reaches the runoff. \"Like millions of French people, I cannot accept that the second round of the presidential election should pit Marine Le Pen against Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Our country would not recover from it,\" he said. In his view there were two paths: \"Either one candidate, because he has momentum, is in a position to bring people together. That is not the case today. No candidate is in a position to be in the second round of the presidential election. \\[...] Or, by bringing different candidates together, we create that momentum. I see no other way than the primary to get there.\"\n\nHe singled out Philippe. \"There is only one candidate today who is categorically refusing, and that is Édouard Philippe,\" he said, according to TF1info. He said Retailleau had declared himself in favor of the principle of a primary. Asked whether a primary could go ahead without Philippe, Attal said \"nothing should be ruled out.\" He added: \"More and more French people are in favor of this primary.\"\n\nHe also turned Philippe's charge around. \"Division is not the primary,\" he said, [RTL reported](https://www.rtl.fr/actu/politique/la-division-c-est-d-arriver-a-cinq-au-premier-tour-gabriel-attal-repond-a-edouard-philippe-et-martele-sa-volonte-d-une-primaire-du-bloc-central-7900691627). \"Division is arriving at the first round with five candidates.\" A runoff between Mélenchon and Le Pen, he said, would be a \"cataclysm\" far more serious than differences among candidates. He said withdrawals and \"back-room\" negotiations over withdrawals are \"what disgusts the French.\" On TF1 he put it another way: \"Withdrawals and back-room negotiations are not what will allow us to win,\" [TF1info reported](https://www.tf1info.fr/politique/elections/presidentielle/un-seul-candidat-s-y-oppose-sur-tf1-gabriel-attal-dit-toujours-croire-qu-une-primaire-est-ineluctable-2473302.html).\n\nOn polling, Attal said that when a single center candidate is tested, \"he is not even in the second round, whether it is Édouard Philippe or me.\" He added: \"The polls are not flourishing for anyone.\" He gave himself until \"the start of 2027\" to win people over, \"but the sooner the better.\"\n\n## Where the rest of the field stands\n\nThe responses from other candidates and party leaders do not line up neatly with Attal's plan or Philippe's refusal. Several want some form of primary, but they disagree on who should be in it.\n\n**Bruno Retailleau, Les Républicains.** The LR president and candidate does not reject a primary, but he sets two conditions. \"If Édouard Philippe is not in the primary, what is the point?\" he said on Europe 1 and CNews on October 28, [Europe 1 reported](https://www.europe1.fr/politique/primaire-a-droite-il-faut-quedouard-phillipe-y-soit-declare-bruno-retailleau-1188435). He wants a contest that is \"open and that everyone commits to, from the right to the center.\" His entourage called the idea of a primary that would include both Retailleau and the Socialist-backed Raphaël Glucksmann \"fanciful and ridiculous,\" [franceinfo reported](https://www.franceinfo.fr/elections/presidentielle/le-candidat-lr-a-la-presidentielle-bruno-retailleau-juge-fantaisiste-et-ridicule-l-organisation-d-une-grande-primaire-des-democrates-proposee-par-son-adversaire-gabriel-attal_8257928.html). The same source said: \"Without (Édouard) Philippe, it makes no sense.\" According to [Le Parisien](https://www.leparisien.fr/elections/presidentielle/presidentielle-2027-attal-philippe-glucksmann-lisnard-qui-veut-ou-pas-dune-grande-primaire-des-democrates-02-11-2026-OYZWGPQK7JAYJE3MKFE3ZGBP4U.php), his camp described Attal's version as \"stillborn\" and said it would mean \"five more years of 'at the same time'.\" Retailleau wants a primary of the right and center that excludes the left and Éric Zemmour, the paper reported.\n\n**David Lisnard.** The mayor of Cannes, who also leads the Association of Mayors of France, has long called for a primary. He pressed Philippe directly in a post on X quoted by Le Parisien. \"But be careful, it will soon be too late,\" he wrote. He said it is better to face rivals \"in the quarter-final than in the semi-final.\" \"Let Édouard Philippe state his scope, and I am ready to face him,\" he wrote. Lisnard says he would govern with neither the Rassemblement national nor the Macronists, the paper reported.\n\n**Valérie Pécresse.** The LR president of the Île-de-France region called on LCI for \"a primary that is as open as possible,\" limited to candidates who reject alliances with the extremes, Le Parisien reported.\n\n**The MoDem.** Bayrou backs a primary. Marc Fesneau, who leads the MoDem group in the National Assembly, told La Tribune Dimanche that he favors a primary running \"from the social democrats to the republican right.\" Le Parisien reported that he would leave out Lisnard.\n\n**Renaissance.** Aurore Bergé supports a primary from Renaissance to LR, including Horizons, the MoDem and Lisnard's Nouvelle Énergie, according to Le Parisien.\n\n**The government spokesperson.** Maud Bregeon, the government spokesperson, has backed Philippe since late June, Le Parisien reported. She said on franceinfo that he is \"by far the best placed to qualify for the second round.\" \"A primary cannot run from the left of Raphaël Glucksmann to those who would hold out a hand to Éric Ciotti,\" she said, [according to franceinfo](https://www.franceinfo.fr/politique/une-primaire-ne-peut-pas-aller-de-la-gauche-de-raphael-glucksmann-a-ceux-qui-tendraient-la-main-a-eric-ciotti-maud-bregeon_8264399).\n\n**Other figures on the right and center.** A [20 Minutes survey of positions](https://www.20minutes.fr/politique/4258845-20261030-primaire-centre-droit-attal-philippe-villepin-retailleau-contre) published on October 30 found a wide spread. Senate President Gérard Larcher favors \"a system for deciding, including the primary,\" and his entourage says it should be limited to the right and center. Laurent Wauquiez, who leads the Droite républicaine group in the Assembly, backs a system of arbitration to pick a single candidate of the right and center. Bruno Le Maire is open to whatever can \"bring together.\" Xavier Bertrand, president of the Hauts-de-France region, has often said he is \"vaccinated\" against primaries since his defeat in 2021. Thierry Breton, the former EU commissioner, says primaries \"have never worked in France\" and are \"losing machines.\" Attal's team approached that of former prime minister [Dominique de Villepin](https://567politics.com/politicians/dominique-de-villepin), which said: \"We politely turned them away.\"\n\n## The left says no\n\nAttal's proposal reached out to the social-democratic left, as Bayrou's did. The left's main candidate turned it down. \"This primary is the primary of those who stand by the record of Macronism. That is not my story,\" [Raphaël Glucksmann](https://567politics.com/politicians/raphael-glucksmann), the candidate of the Socialist Party and Place publique, said on BFMTV and RMC on Monday, Le Parisien reported. \"I don't believe in it,\" he said, adding that \"there is a democratic left that exists.\"\n\nEmmanuel Grégoire, the Socialist mayor of Paris, was just as clear. \"I close the door to that,\" he said, according to Le Parisien.\n\nThe parties at either end of the spectrum are outside the debate by design. Attal's test of no alliances with the far left or far right would exclude [Marine Le Pen](https://567politics.com/politicians/marine-le-pen) of the Rassemblement national and [Jean-Luc Mélenchon](https://567politics.com/politicians/jean-luc-melenchon) of La France insoumise. They placed first and second in every scenario of the latest Toluna poll, described below.\n\n## What the polls show\n\nBoth men cite the polls. The most recent survey with published hypotheses on this question is wave 8 of Toluna's 2027 presidential barometer for M6 and RTL. It was conducted online from October 19 to 21, 2026. The sample was 2,094 registered voters drawn from a larger sample of 2,500 people. It used the quota method, with weighting. The results are shares of votes cast. Toluna gives a margin of error of between 1.4 and 2.9 points for these first-round figures, depending on the score. Toluna notes that voting intentions measure the balance of forces at a given moment and cannot be read as predictions.\n\nThe poll tested five versions of the first round. In each, Le Pen led with 33% to 35%, and Mélenchon was second or tied for second.\n\n**First-round voting intentions under five field scenarios (%)**\n\nOnline quota survey of 2,094 registered voters, share of votes cast, margin of error 1.4 to 2.9 points. \"Leading center candidate\" is Philippe where he runs, otherwise Attal. In the scenario with both, Attal has 5%.","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"},{"role":"htmltable","html":"<table><tr><th>Scenario</th><th>Le Pen</th><th>Mélenchon</th><th>Glucksmann</th><th>Leading center candidate</th></tr><tr><td>Philippe only center candidate</td><td>35%</td><td>17%</td><td>13%</td><td>16%</td></tr><tr><td>Attal only center candidate</td><td>35%</td><td>19%</td><td>13%</td><td>11%</td></tr><tr><td>Attal and Philippe both run</td><td>35%</td><td>17%</td><td>12%</td><td>13%</td></tr><tr><td>Philippe, Villepin and Lisnard run</td><td>33%</td><td>17%</td><td>12%</td><td>15%</td></tr><tr><td>Attal, Villepin and Lisnard run</td><td>33%</td><td>17%</td><td>14%</td><td>10%</td></tr></table>","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"Source: [Toluna barometer, wave 8, for M6 and RTL, Oct. 19-21, 2026](https://tolunacorporate.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Rapport-Toluna-Barometre-Presidentielle-2027-Vague-8-M6-RTL-23-octobre-2026-1.pdf)\n\nWith Philippe as the only center candidate, he drew 16%, one point behind Mélenchon's 17%. With Attal as the only center candidate, Attal drew 11% and Mélenchon 19%. When both ran, Philippe had 13% and Attal 5%, for a combined 18%. Retailleau ranged from 4% to 9% across the scenarios. Lisnard drew 7% or 8% in the two scenarios where he was tested, and Villepin 1% or 2%. Zemmour drew 5% or 6%.\n\nThe figures support parts of both men's arguments. Philippe led Attal in every scenario where both were measured, which is the basis for his camp's view that the center's best-placed candidate is already clear. But no center candidate finished ahead of Mélenchon in any of the five scenarios, which is the point Attal made on Monday. The one-point gap between Philippe and Mélenchon in the first scenario is within the stated margin of error. Our earlier report on [Philippe's and Mélenchon's TF1 dispute](https://567politics.com/news/france-melenchon-philippe-tf1-20h-boycott-immigration-remarks-november-2026) sets out other recent polls.\n\n## What comes next\n\nThere is no agreed process, date or set of rules for a primary. Attal says he wants agreement by early 2027. Bayrou's timetable would have a vote by the end of January. Philippe says candidates will take stock in February. The first round is set for Sunday, April 18, 2027, and the runoff for Sunday, May 2.\n\nThe dispute also plays out against other questions for the same voters. They include the 2027 budget now before the National Assembly, covered in our report on [the Assembly's revenue vote](https://567politics.com/news/france-assembly-budget-2027-revenue-vote-november-3-lescure-49-3-november-2026), and the appeal over [Le Pen's eligibility](https://567politics.com/news/france-le-pen-eligibility-cassation-appeal-guerin-heitz-november-2026) to run.\n\n567politics will report on any agreement on rules, any withdrawal or any new polling that tests the scenarios.","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"}]}