French President Macron ousts leftist PM as crisis continues

Left-wing leaders in France are backing protests against President Emmanuel Macron, after he refused to appoint a government led by the left-wing New Popular Front alliance (NFP).

The four-party coalition won a majority of seats in last month’s parliamentary elections and says its candidate, Paris civil servant Lucie Castets, should be elected prime minister, despite falling short of a majority.

President Macron said that France needs institutional stability and that the left will not be able to win a vote of confidence that will come quickly from its opponents in parliament.

Mr Macron, whose Ensemble coalition came second in the election, began new consultations with party leaders on Tuesday.

President Macron said that France needs institutional stability and that the left will not be able to win a vote of confidence that will come quickly from its opponents in parliament.

Mr Macron, whose Ensemble coalition came second in the election, began new consultations with party leaders on Tuesday.

He called on three of the four left-wing parties – the Socialists, Greens and Communists – to work with “other political forces” to find a way out of the massacre, without mentioning the left-wing France Unbowed, which won a majority of seats. four.

However, the three parties refused to accept his request. Socialist leader Olivier Faure said he would not be “part of democracy”. Marine Tondelier of the Greens said her party would not “run this circus, this false negotiation”.

No party managed to win a majority in the election, with the NFP gaining more than 190 seats, Mr Macron’s Ensemble coalition 160 and the National Rally (RN) 140.

Mr Macron’s term runs until 2027, and France’s government is usually formed from the president’s party as parliamentary elections usually follow shortly after a presidential vote. But that changed when he called snap parliamentary elections this summer.

The interventionist government has led France since the July 7 vote, including the Paris Olympics, to the ire of the NFP coalition.

“My responsibility is that the country is not blocked or weakened,” Mr Macron said after the first round of talks on Monday evening.

“The Socialist Party, the Greens and the Communists have not proposed ways to cooperate with other political forces. Now it is up to them to do that,” he added.

France Unbowed (LFI) reacted angrily to the president’s words, with the national coordinator Manuel Bompard lamenting the “unacceptable overthrow of democracy”. The leader of the LFI, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, went further, threatening to censure the president.

The party called on youth organizations and other groups to take part in a “great mobilization” on September 7, accusing the president of putting democracy at risk.

Communist leader Fabien Roussel called on the French people to protest wherever they are, “in the cities and in front of the regions”.

Olivier Faure of the Socialists said he would also take part in the protests, if possible. “I’m not looking at chaos,” he said, “even what the head of state is creating.”

Lucie Castets, 37, was not expected to be elected as prime minister. He is the director of finance at Paris City Hall and as a senior civil servant he is not elected.

He told French radio on Tuesday that the head of state was telling the French people that they had the wrong vote: “Democracy means nothing to the president and I see that as very dangerous.”

The Ensemble and National Rally, whose leaders met with the president on Monday, vowed to vote for candidates for the NFP. RN leaders Marine le Pen and Jordan Bardella described the NFP as a “danger” for France.

President Macron wants to form a government made up of “republican soldiers”, excluding the far-right National Rally and the radical France Unbowed.

Among other potential candidates named in political circles as France’s next prime minister are former Socialist interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve and Xavier Bertrand, a regional leader from the center-right Republicans.

The current Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, said on Tuesday that, as a “great republican”, Mr Cazeneuve could serve as the head of the coalition.

Rejecting France Ungowed as dangerous, he told French TV “the government of the New Popular Front has no chance of ruling for more than a day”.