France’s President Emmanuel Macron is facing pressure from opposition groups in the National Assembly to finally appoint a new Prime Minister now that the Paris Olympics are over, but no clear candidate has emerged. Outgoing Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has written a letter to several factions in the legislature, excluding Marine Le Pen’s populist National Rally (RN) and the far-left France Unbowed (LFI).
In the letter, Attal calls for an alliance to form a working majority to select the next prime minister. Such an alliance would exclude the RN, which won the most votes of any single party in the July parliamentary elections, and the LFI, which won the most votes of the parties within the far-left New Popular Front (NFP) bloc.
The parties that make up the New Popular Front, including the LFI and the Socialist and Communist parties, have the most seats in the legislature but do not have enough seats to govern alone. The ‘Macronist’ faction of globalists loyal to the president, including Attal, has the second-most seats, with the RN in third despite placing first by share of the popular vote.
The bloc supporting Macron has already managed to re-elect Yaël Braun-Pivet as the legislature’s president by securing the support of the establishment right Les Republicains (Republicans), a RINO-like minor faction.
The far-left and globalist parties successfully conspired to keep Le Pen’s RN out of all key positions within the National Assembly, which Marine Le Pen and many members of the public believe to be anti-democratic.
TRUCE OVER, NO COALITION.
Now that the so-called Olympic truce is over, the Socialists are demanding President Macron immediately appoint a new Prime Minister.
Socialist spokeswoman Chloé Ridel says Macron cannot delay this for much longer, as a new budget needs to be finalized by the end of September. Ridel acknowledges that forming a working coalition in the legislature will take time, but she warns the current caretaker government cannot last forever.
If a coalition can be formed, it will likely involve the second-placed Macronists peeling away parties within the far-left New Popular Front, such as the Socialists, from the left-populist LFI, possibly with the support of the Republicans.
Raheem Kassam, Editor-in-Chief of The National Pulse, predicted before the Olympics that if France’s leftist and globalist parties Macron cannot form a durable coalition, another snap election is likely.
Jack Montgomery contributed to this report.
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