French President Emmanuel Macron has ruled out naming a left-wing government to end the country’s political deadlock, saying it would be a threat to “institutional stability”.
Macron has been searching in successive rounds of talks for a new prime minister since elections in July gave a left-wing alliance the most seats in parliament but not enough to govern.
The president rejected left-wing claims to govern after talks Monday with far-right politician Marine Le Pen and other political leaders. Since Friday, he has invited party leaders to talks in the hopes of finding a consensus candidate who would not immediately be ousted in a no-confidence vote.
“My responsibility is that the country is not blocked nor weakened,” Macron said in a statement.
The July election left the 577-seat National Assembly divided between the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance with over 190 seats, followed by Macron’s centrist alliance at around 160 and Le Pen’s National Rally at 140.
The NFP, particularly the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), has demanded for their right to form a government. The party argued that since it won the most seats, it should pick the new prime minister. It has chosen Lucie Castets, 37, as its candidate.
However, Macron’s party, along with the conservatives and the far right, have promised to vote no confidence in a left-wing government.
A left-wing government “would be immediately censored by all the other groups represented in the National Assembly” and “the institutional stability of our country therefor requires us not to choose this option”, Macron said on Monday.
He added that he would hold talks with party leaders and “personalities distinguished by experience in the service of the state and the Republic”.
The hard-left LFI reacted with fury, with its coordinator Manuel Bompard calling Macron’s comments an “unacceptable anti-democratic coup”.
LFI leader Jean-Luc Melenchon posted on X that Macron had created “a situation of exceptional gravity” and called for a “firm and strong response” by the public and politicians.
On Saturday, Melenchon had announced that his party would support a left-wing government run by Castets but without any LFI ministers.
Macron has previously called the LFI an “extreme movement” in an attempt to equate the far-left group with the far-right National Rally.
French news outlet Le Monde wrote that after Melenchon’s offer, Macron would now find it harder to justify why he was ruling out the NFP.
Meanwhile, the Socialist Party chief, Olivier Faure, has said it did not want to “participate in a show where the dice are loaded” against the left.
Macron has currently left Gabriel Attal as caretaker government leader for a post-war record time since the two-round election as he seeks a figure with enough broad support to survive a confidence vote.
However with the deadline to present a draft 2025 budget a little more than a month away, Macron, who has stalled in choosing a candidate, must now decide on who to nominate.
