France’s prime minister will temporarily stay in power as the country works out how to deal with the surprise outcome of a snap parliamentary election.
The result shocked voters and politicians, with the favorite party to win being pushed into third place by an opposing bloc of left-wing and centrist parties.The left-wing New Popular Front secured the most seats, with the centrist bloc including President Emmanuel Macron’s party achieving the second most number of seats.
Having run a campaign that lost his party 80 seats, and its plurality in parliament, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal felt forced to offer his resignation to the president. But the Elysee says Macron asked him to stay for the moment, citing the need for stability at a complex time from French politics, and with the Paris 2024 Olympic Games starting this month.
The unusual nature of the election result was largely down to an unprecedented degree of tactical voting. The prospect of a far-right party making into government after the first round of elections galvanized political parties from the far left to the center-right to work together to beat the far-right National Rally.
However, although it was pipped to the top spot, eventually coming third, it doubled the number of seats it had in parliament. It is hoping to use that presence, and the extra funding it gets from securing so many seats, to help Marine Le Pen become president in 2027.
But while the cross-party voting successfully secured National Rally’s defeat, it created at least two political headaches that will cause problems for governance.
The first problem is that coalitions are not an ordinary part of French political culture – but with all three of the major blocs far from a majority of seats in Parliament, a coalition of some kind will have to be formed.
This is a difficult process, when as early as Monday politicians from across all ideological blocs were ruling out working with politicians from other politically opposed blocs.
The second problem is that French democracy is designed to work best when the prime minister and president are from the same party. Running a government where the two are representatives of different parties – known as a ‘cohabitation’ – will pose tricky challenges to come.
For example, while the French president is the ultimate decision maker when it comes to foreign policy and the military, it is the French prime minister who allocates the funding.
No wonder French politicians expect it will take weeks, possibly months, for a cross-party government to be formed.
