PARIS- The French left, winner of Sunday’s legislative elections, although far from an absolute majority, was still unable to reach an agreement on Friday on the name of a candidate a Prime Minister, leaving the country in political limbo.
President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly and called early legislative elections after the French right-wing victory in the European elections on 9 June.
No party or coalition won an absolute majority of 289 deputies in the new National Assembly.
The New Popular Front (NFP), an alliance that includes environmentalists, socialists, communists and the radical left, came out on top with 193 seats, while Macron’s alliance won 164 and the more conservative wing 143.
The NFP, which is demanding the post of prime minister, had promised to propose a candidate before the end of the week, but admitted on Friday that it would probably not be able to do so.
“I prefer not to set a deadline,” Manuel Bompard, coordinator of the radical left-wing party La France Insoumise (LFI), told TF1, adding that “more time may be needed.”
Negotiations could extend as far as July 18, the day of the first session of the National Assembly, he added.
“It’s not because the question of the prime minister has not been decided that we have not made progress,” said environmentalist leader Marine Tondelier. “It’s normal that it takes a little time,” she added.
Four names
A source from the Socialists said that LFI had proposed four names, including that of the controversial Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who has caused reluctance among other parties.
The Socialists are banking on their party leader, Olivier Faure, who they say would be acceptable as prime minister to a wide range of MPs, from the left to the centre-right.
“Faure or Mélenchon? That is the real question,” said a senior Socialist official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Opposition RN leader Marine Le Pen has already warned that her MPs would censure any government that included ministers from the LFI or the Greens.
This threat has also been made by several leaders of the centrist bloc, starting with the outgoing Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, who pledged on Friday to “protect the French from any government that includes ministers from RN or LFI.”
For the French president, “no one won” the legislative elections and he called for the formation of a “broad coalition” that includes the centre, the right and the left, but not RN or LFI.
Macron has asked his Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to remain in office “for the moment” to “guarantee the stability” of the country, which will host the Olympic Games from July 26 to August 11.
Several figures on the right and centre support Macron’s position, including the president of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, who believes that the formation of a government could be postponed until “early September”.
The powerful CGT union has called on French people to take to the streets on July 18, the day of the first session of the National Assembly, “to ensure that the results of the elections are respected.”
Source: With information from AFP