Efforts for the new government of France

2024-07-09 21:27:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Efforts for the new government of France

Illustrative photo

France's former Socialist President Francois Hollande and other newly elected left-wing coalition lawmakers made a dramatic entrance to the National Assembly on Tuesday for talks aimed at forming a new government following the chaotic outcome of parliamentary elections in which the alliance the left won the highest number of seats in parliament, but not enough of a majority to govern alone.

President Emmanuel Macron asked Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Monday to continue attending to daily issues, less than three weeks before the start of the Paris Olympics. On Wednesday, President Macron attends the NATO high-level meeting in Washington.

According to Sunday's results, none of the political groups could come close to the majority needed to form a government, risking a paralysis of the European Union's second-largest economy.

The parliament is now divided into three groups, the left, which came first, the center group of President Macron and the extreme right of the National Union party.

In European countries, fragmented parliaments are not uncommon, but this is a situation unprecedented in France's modern history.

Leaders of the left-wing coalition, the New People's Front, which secured the largest number of votes, say it is up to them to form the new government. The three main parties of this coalition, the extreme left, the socialists and the Greens, started negotiations to find the candidate for prime minister.

Mr Hollande, president of France from 2012-2017, joined other members of his Socialist party in front of dozens of journalists. He did not speak when he arrived at the National Assembly.

He left power in 2017 without running for re-election as his support plummeted, paving the way for Emmanuel Macron, his former economy minister.

He made a surprise return to the French political scene in recent weeks as one of the most prominent candidates in the election, winning in his hometown of Tulle in southwestern France.

He is now seen as a key player in politics at a time when President Macron's left-wing coalition and centrist group are taking steps to try to form a new government.

The New Popular Front "is the leading force in the country and has the responsibility to form the government," said Green lawmaker Cyrielle Chatelain.

The MP of the extreme left, Mathilde Panot, said that "legislators of the party France Inflexible" go to the National Assembly not as an opposition force, but as a force that aims to govern the country".

Their conversations are complicated by internal divisions. Some are pushing the idea of ??proposing a far-left figure, while others prefer a more consensual personality. The Prime Minister of France is accountable to parliament and can be dismissed through a motion of no confidence.

The Socialist Party's chief negotiator, Johanna Rolland, said the next prime minister will not be Jean-Luc Mélenchon, founder of the divisive far-left, "Unyielding France."

Speaking on France 2 television on Tuesday, she suggested the left-wing coalition could cooperate with Macron's center group.

Mr. Melenchon, who did not run in the parliamentary elections, also took part in talks in the National Assembly on Tuesday afternoon.

Yael Braun-Pivet, a member of Mr Macron's center group and a former president of the National Assembly, said "the French people sent a clear message. They did not want to give an absolute majority to any particular political bloc, so they are ordering us to listen to each other, to work together and that's what we have to do."

According to official election data, the 3 main groups were far from reaching the 289 seats needed to secure a majority in the 577-seat National Assembly.

The left-wing New Popular Front coalition took more than 180 seats, coming in first and trailing President Macron's center group with more than 160 seats.

Marine Le Pen's far-right National Union came third, with 140 seats, the force's highest tally of the 89 seats it won in 2022.

President Macron has three years left in his presidential mandate./ Voa