The LFI party argues that democracy should be protected from “the president’s authoritarian leanings”
France’s left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI) party has introduced a motion and is collecting signatures to remove President Emmanuel Macron from office after he declined to appoint the coalition’s candidate as prime minister.
LFI is part of the New Popular Front alliance (NFP) alongside the Socialists, Communists, and Greens, which emerged as the winner of the snap parliamentary elections called by Macron earlier this year. However, the coalition fell short of a clear majority, compelling Macron to enter negotiations to appoint a new prime minister and form a government. On Monday, the French leader rejected NFP’s candidate, Lucie Castets, for the position, asserting that a left-wing government would pose a threat to “institutional stability.”
“The draft resolution to initiate the procedure for the impeachment of the President of the Republic, in accordance with Article 68 of the Constitution, was sent today to parliamentarians for co-signatures,” the LFI’s parliamentary leader, Mathilde Panot, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday.
To begin the impeachment process, the LFI group, which holds 72 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly, must gather signatures from at least one-tenth of the members of parliament in support of their motion. Article 68 of the French Constitution states that the action could be taken “in the event of a breach of duty manifestly incompatible with the exercise of his mandate.”
“Macron refuses to submit to the people’s vote, so we must dismiss him,” Panot explained, sharing the of the resolution, which stated that “the National Assembly (lower house) and Senate can and must defend democracy against the president’s authoritarian leanings.”
The lawmakers argued that it is not the president’s responsibility “to engage in political horse trading,” referencing Macron’s struggle to find a new prime minister since accepting Gabriel Attal’s resignation last month.
Meanwhile, the French media observed that it would be challenging to find a new PM “who would not be immediately ousted in a confidence vote.”
Macron called a snap election in June after his centrist Ensemble bloc performed poorly in the European polls. Following the first round of the domestic vote where Marine Le Pen’s right-wing National Rally (RN) emerged as the frontrunner, Macron reached a last-minute “strategic voting” agreement with the NFP to prevent the RN from securing a majority in the National Assembly.
Although Macron’s bloc came in second in the elections, the president retains the sole authority to appoint the prime minister, who is not formally required to be a candidate from the winning party.
The RN, which placed third in the National Assembly vote, declared that it would block any candidate from the left-wing alliance, arguing that the NFP represents “a danger to public order, civil peace, and obviously to the economic life of the country.”