French PM Gabriel Attal -- image via video screenshot
By Global News Service
The results of the general election in France are in: the left-progressive alliance New Popular Front (NFP) will be the largest parliamentary group with 182 seats, followed by 168 seats held by Emmanuel Macron’s liberal coalition, and 143 seats by the far-right National Rally, which includes supporters from the Gaullist party Republicans. However, none of the three groups secured an absolute majority of 289 seats, leading to uncertainty about the next steps.
While most have no doubt that the NFP, which ran on a platform of strengthening public services and addressing the cost-of-living crisis, should be given the chance to form a government, President Emmanuel Macron himself asked Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to “stay for a while longer” when he offered his resignation on Monday, in order to “ensure the stability of the country.”
“Emmanuel Macron wants Gabriel Attal to stay on as prime minister ‘to ensure the stability of the country.’ It’s a strange democratic concept to act as if the election didn’t produce a clear result: Mr. Attal is in the minority. True stability would mean letting the majority, i.e., the NFP, govern,” said Éric Coquerel, a representative of France Unbowed.
“The president has the duty to call the NFP to govern,” Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of France Unbowed, said after voting stations closed. “Voters have chosen between two radically opposed projects. The NFP is ready to govern. It is the only well-constructed, coherent, and united alternative option, equipped with an organized and detailed program.”
from the Peoples Dispatch / Globetrotter News Service
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