François Hollande has handed his acolyte Emmanuel Macron a poisoned chalice

Every politician in France is on manoeuvres. Vast chasms have opened up in the anti-Le Pen coalition and the country faces another two-round election for the National Assembly in June. It’s likely that a fractured and dysfunctional legislature will emerge, complicating or even making impossible the program proposed by president-elect Emmanuel Macron.

Nonetheless, Macron will still be hoping that amidst this electoral entropy he can push his own slate to the forefront. This is a big ask. Possibly only about 20 per cent of voters supported him for the presidency for any reason other than he was not Marine Le Pen. His program is either not understood or not supported by the vast majority of voters. His ambition to secure a majority in the assembly looks impossible to me. Perhaps he has some secret sauce.

In a clever bit of rebranding, Macron’s movement is changing its name to La République En Marche, as it seeks to be become more of a party, and less of a cult.