Tomás Ó Flatharta

Pierre Rousset reviews a democratic crisis in France.

At a time when the far-right is marching forward all over Europe (including Ireland), France offers an example of left-wing resistance. The The New People’s Front (NFP) won a surprise parliamentary victory, but President Macron retaliated by making a deal with the far-right.

Source :
Democratic Crisis in France – President Macron appoints Prime Minister Barnier rejected by voters

There are many interesting articles on this subject here : 2024 Democracy Crisis in France – ESSF

On 9 June, Emmanuel Macron unexpectedly decided to dissolve the National Assembly, just as the Rassemblement Nationale (far-right National Rally party of Marine Le Pen) was gaining momentum. Three weeks later, the results of the first round of voting were unequivocal: the parties of the presidential bloc were crushed, and in the second round the National Rally could hope to win an absolute majority of seats in Parliament, or at least be the largest party. (The French electoral system uses two rounds of voting. If no candidate gets an absolute majority in the first round, the names of the top candidates go to a second round. The one with the most votes in the second round wins).

These hopes were dashed. After the second round, the far right ended up in third place, behind the Nouveau Front populaire (the New People’s Front formed by parties of the broad Left) and the presidential party.

The electorate wanted neither Macronism nor the National Rally in the corridors of power. Today, thanks to Macron, it has both. It took him eight weeks to choose a prime minister: Michel Barnier, a member of Les Républicains party, which won only 5% of the vote. He had previously negotiated this appointment with Marine Le Pen, to ensure that she would not immediately table a vote of no confidence against him. Madame agreed… conditionally.

Now, the choice of a prime minister depends on the goodwill of the far right!