NICE, France (AP) — France’s main left-wing coalition accused the president Tuesday Emmanuel Macron for denying democracy after rejecting the New Popular Front candidate for prime minister following last month’s inconclusive election.
As president, Macron has the sole authority under the French constitution to appoint the prime minister.
French politicians have been at an impasse over a future government for a year. early voting in the legislature in July produced no clear winner. The latest tensions include calls for large protests against Macron next week, as Paris prepares to Paralympic Games with the opening ceremony scheduled for Wednesday evening.
The New Popular Front coalition won the most seats in the National Assembly. Macron’s centrist alliance came second and the far-right Rassemblement National came third, leaving France’s powerful lower house without a single party with a majority.
However, the left-wing coalition, which also includes the far-left France Unbowed, the Socialists and the Greens, has insisted that the new prime minister must come from its ranks, as it is the largest faction.
Macron on Monday rejected their nomination for prime minister, the little-known civil servant Lucie Castets, saying his decision to reject a government led by the New Popular Front was intended to guarantee “institutional stability.”
The deeply divided parliament would not support a left-wing government, Macron said, announcing a new round of consultations with political leaders. He called on left-wing leaders to seek cooperation with parties outside their coalition, including the president’s centrist alliance.
Left-wing leaders lashed out at Macron, accusing him of endangering French democracy and denying the election results. The Socialists and Greens refused to meet the president for a new round of talks on Tuesday. France Unbowed, whose leaders were not invited to the presidential palace at the Elysee, called for mass protests against Macron. They say Macron is responsible for an “exceptionally serious situation.”
“How is it possible that we have reached such a denial of democracy?” Green Party leader Marine Tondelier said in an interview with France Info. “We are in the process of having these elections taken away from us.”
She added that the New Popular Front would reject any government “that is not left-wing.”
François Ruffin, a parliamentarian with France Unbowed, said in an X-post that the “people must remove Macron in the name of democracy.” He added: “Chaos and instability are his fault.”
In a sign of divisions on the left, Pierre Jouvet, secretary general of the Socialist Party, said his supporters did not plan to take part in protests and indicated they were open to further talks with the president.
“We are not calling on people to take to the streets at this time,” Jouvet said in an interview with France Info. “The need is in the debate, in the political discussion, even if Emmanuel Macron’s decision worries us greatly.”
There is no rulebook requiring Macron to nominate a candidate from the party that won the most seats, or specifying a timeline for a decision. The absence of a dominant political bloc is unprecedented in recent French political history.
Macron’s office said last week that he would appoint a prime minister based on consultations that began on Friday and were aimed at “achieving the broadest and most most stable majority possible.”
Politicians from the centre, right and far right have indicated that they want to bring down any government with members of France Unbowed.
Macron seems more interested in a coalition with politicians from the centre-left to the traditional right.
Other names that have emerged in the French media as potential candidates to become prime minister include center-left politician Bernard Cazeneuve, a former prime minister in 2016-2017 who also served as France’s interior minister during a series of deadly extremist attacks in 2015, and Xavier Bertrand, a former minister who is seen as a relative moderate on the French right. Conservative politician Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator for post-Brexit talks, is also considered a potential candidate.
The French president said last month that he would give the outgoing centrist government a purely temporary role to “manage current affairs”, particularly during the Olympic Games in Pariswhich ended on August 11th.
