After neither alliance won an absolute majority, the 289 seats needed to form a government, on Sunday, the big question now is who will govern France and what are some of the possible outcomes?
Since the left alliance New Popular Front got first place in the French legislative elections as the most voted option, they would be the first to nominate a prime minister.
Méléchon yes, Méléchon no
There is a lot of internal fighting within the left over who should lead the government. Jean-Luc Mélenchonleader of Rebellious Francehas repeatedly stated that he is willing to take the position.
The sociologist specialized in far-right movements, Erwan Lecoeur see that “Mélénchon is an influential and divisive figure which repels many voters, so it will be a serious problem if he is nominated. The problem with the left and the Green party It’s that they don’t have an obvious prime minister to nominate. “A lot of people on the left say it could be Mélenchon, others say it can’t be him.”
A minority government with fewer than 289 seats would also mean that the left coalition would have to live under constant threat of a vote of no confidence by other parties.
Macron’s limited possibilities
Emmanuel Macron could try to build a fragile coalition with the most similar within the left and right parties.
But this option seems less likely after several leaders of different parties have expressed their open opposition to forging certain alliances close to transfuguism.
The expert in French Constitutional Law Benjamin Morel underlines the fragility of the possible solutions: “We are in a situation of relative political paralysisso it might be possible to build a fragile rainbow coalitionbut there is still a significant delta from an ideological point of view between the Green party and the conservative The Republicans. “We are going to see many small political groups in Parliament and with the prospect of new elections in a year, this could lead to many parties doing no real favors to others.”
Another option for Macron would be to appoint a technocratic government with ministers without particular political affiliation to dispatch pending matters.
Something that always raises suspicions because there is no neutral political position when political decisions have to be made.
The researcher at the Center for European Policy Analysis Nicolas Tenzer “A technocratic government always makes political decisions. Take the budget as an example: it is a political choice. In September there will be a regulation on the finance of the Republic. There will be some options to give more to education, justice or external affairsriors. Therefore, there is no technocratic government per se. We have to dispel this kind of illusion.”
The first plenary session of the National Assembly It is scheduled for next Thursday, July 18.
