When Emmanuel Macron unexpectedly called snap elections in June, the prevailing wisdom was that the far right would win. Many of us even suspected that Macron favoured such an outcome so that Marine Le Pen would be tainted by her party's exercise of power and therefore less likely to win the presidency in 2027. Whether that was his plan or not, calling the vote was a dangerous gamble that took an unexpected turn, putting an ad hoc leftwing coalition in first place with the largest number of votes, but without the numbers to build a working majority in parliament.
The French constitution entrusts the president with the authority to appoint the prime minister. Under the unwritten conventions of the Fifth Republic, the prime minister is chosen from the majority grouping in the national assembly.
The defeated prime minister, Gabriel Attal, resigned after the elections: voters had relegated the centrist administration he headed to second place. But the president refused to accept Attal's resignation and retained the outgoing government in a caretaker role, claiming that stability required it. Since then, we have been governed by ministers who have in effect resigned, a situation that is completely unprecedented in France.
This story is from the September 06, 2024 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
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This story is from the September 06, 2024 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
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