A painful defeat in France’s local elections this weekend showed the fragility of Emmanuel Macron’s party La République en Marche with less than two years to go to the next presidential election. LREM failed to take any of France’s large cities in Sunday’s second-round vote and allied incumbents elsewhere were swept from power. In Paris, which was supposed to be a showcase for the party’s disruptive appeal, its campaign was scuppered by scandal and infighting. Its candidate for mayor of the capital failed even to win a seat on the council. The only success for the government was Prime Minister Edouard Philippe’s comfortable victory in the port city of Le Havre. It says a lot about the handicaps of Mr Macron’s party, which is split between left and right-leaning factions and has few senior compelling figures, that Mr Philippe is not even a member.
上周末，法国总统马纽埃尔•马克龙(Emmanuel Macron)的共和国前进党(La République En Marche)在法国市政选举中惨败，这显示出该党在距离下届总统大选不到两年之际的脆弱性。在上周日的第二轮选举中，共和国前进党未能拿下法国任何一个大城市，其他市镇的在任盟友纷纷被赶下台。在本应展示该党颠覆性吸引力的巴黎，其竞选活动因丑闻和内讧而搞砸。该党的巴黎市长候选人甚至未能赢得市议会的席位。马克龙政府唯一取得的成功是总理爱德华•菲利普(Édouard Philippe)在港口城市勒阿弗尔(Le Havre)轻松获胜。马克龙的政党已分裂为左翼和右翼两派，而且几乎没有具有号召力的高层人物；突显该党弱点的是，菲利普连党员都不是。