A broad left-wing coalition won the snap election, ahead of both Macron’s centrists and the far-right, but no group won an absolute majority.
Six weeks after the election, Macron still has not named a new prime minister, whose first big task will be to present next year’s budget plan to parliament.
As reported, the New People’s Front (NFP), which unites the socialists, the left-wing extremist party “Disobedient France” (LFI), the greens and the communists, agreed on a common candidate for the post of prime minister on July 23, choosing a little-known economist and civil servant Lysias Box.
However, in the parliamentary elections, the NFP won only 182 out of 577 seats in the National Assembly. Although the left has a total of 193 seats, it is far too few to secure the majority needed to form a government. Meanwhile, the centrist union “Ensemble” represented by President Macron won 164 seats, and the right-wing National Union (RN) won 143 mandates.
A few hours before the opening of the Paris Olympics, the president rejected the left’s offer, stating that the issue was not the name of the next prime minister, but a majority in the National Assembly that would be able to implement reforms and pass a budget so that the country could move forward.
“We have come here to remind the president how important it is to respect the results of the elections and to pull the country out of paralysis,” Castet said on his arrival at the Elysée Palace on Friday.
Kastet said she and her allies were ready to find “a compromise, given that no one has an absolute majority” and would work to achieve stability.
LFI coordinator Manuel Bompars warned before the meeting with Macron that they are not going to negotiate with Macron, but to inform him that there is no other alternative to the position of Prime Minister than Caste.
Meanwhile, Macron’s allies say the left-wing bloc is too weak to contend for the prime ministership and instead hope to build a majority around a candidate from a centrist party.
The current period is the longest that France has ever been without a head of government after a parliamentary election. The process has dragged on because Macron announced that he would not prioritize finding a head of government during the Paris Olympics, which ended on August 11.
The interim government is led by the former Prime Minister Gabriel Atāls.
The opposition has sharply criticized Macron for delaying the process of forming a government, and even some of Macron’s allies have grown impatient.
Representatives from the entire political spectrum will participate in the talks at the Elysée Palace on Friday and Monday. Macron’s office gave no indication of when the president might make his choice for prime minister, but observers expect a decision to be made next week.
2024-08-24 00:18:09