France's former socialist prime minister Manuel Valls has announced his intention to stand for Emmanuel Macron's political movement in June parliamentary elections, in the first high-profile defection since last Sunday's presidential runoff, reports The Telegraph.
However, some in the Macron camp reportedly fret the move could prove a poisoned chalice because Mr Valls is seen as inextricably linked to outgoing President François Hollande's unpopular administration.
"I will be candidate for the presidential majority and I wish to join the list [of candidates] of his movement," said Mr Valls, who lost the socialist primaries in January. The party's official candidate, Benoît Hamon, crashed out of the first round of presidential elections in fifth place.
"This Socialist Party is dead, it is behind us," said Mr Valls, long seen as a Blairite reformist and a black sheep of the French Left. He nevertheless intimated he would keep his party membership. "I want Emmanuel Macron to succeed," he told RTL radio.
However, Mr Macron's newly renamed "Republique en Marche" (the Republic on the Move) movement gave a lukewarm reaction to his surprise declaration.
Party spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said Mr Valls had not applied to the party's selection committee and had 24 hours left to do so. It could not be seen to giving anyone, including ex-prime ministers, special privileges, he warned.
Macron opponents, including defeated presidential finalist Marine Le Pen, have repeatedly depicted the new French presidency as a continuation of the Hollande era.
Another problem is the notorious enmity between Mr Valls and Mr Macron, who called his former boss a "traitor" in a documentary out this week. Some Macron aides fear the former prime minister could be plotting to destroy the Macron movement from within.
Mr Valls brushed this aside on Tuesday, saying one must "forget grudges".
Mr Macron has said he wants to break with the traditional Left-Right political axis in France and is seeking to strike a balance by fielding 577 parliamentary candidates from the reformist Left to Gaullists and civil society.
Some 17,000 applicants have applied for the posts. Candidates will be announced on Thursday.