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NICE, France (AP) — France's main left-wing coalition on Tuesday accused President Emmanuel Macron of denying democracy after he rejected the New Popular Front's candidate for prime minister following last month's inconclusive election.
As president, Macron has the sole power to name the prime minister according to the French Constitution.
French politicians have been deadlocked over a future government since an early legislative vote in July produced no clear winner. The latest tensions include calls for major protests against Macron next week as Paris prepares to host the Paralympic Games with the opening ceremony set for Wednesday evening.
The New Popular Front coalition won the most seats in the National Assembly. Macron’s centrist alliance came in second, and the far-right National Rally came in third, leaving France’s powerful lower house of parliament with no party holding a majority.
Still, the left-wing coalition, which includes the hard-left France Unbowed, the Socialists and the Greens, has insisted that the new prime minister should be from their ranks because it's the largest group.
On Monday, Macron rejected their nominee for prime minister — little-known civil servant Lucie Castets — saying that his decision to refuse a government led by the New Popular Front is aimed at ensuring “institutional stability.”
The deeply fractured parliament wouldn't endorse a left-wing government, Macron said, and announced another round of consultations with political leaders. He called on left-wing leaders to seek cooperation with parties outside their coalition, including with the president's centrist alliance.
Leftist leaders lashed out at Macron, accusing him of endangering French democracy and denying the election results. The Socialists and the Greens refused to meet with the president for a new round of talks on Tuesday. France Unbowed, whose leaders weren't invited to the Elysee presidential palace, called for mass protests against Macron. They say that Macron is responsible for an “exceptionally grave situation.”
“How is it possible that we have reached such denial of democracy?” the Greens' leader, Marine Tondelier, said in an interview with broadcaster France Info. “We are in the process of having this election stolen from us."
She added that the New Popular Front would reject any government “that is not left-wing.”
François Ruffin, a lawmaker with France Unbowed, said in an X post that the “people must remove Macron in the name of democracy.” He added: “Chaos and instability are his fault.”
In a sign of fracturing opinion on the left, Pierre Jouvet, the Socialist Party's secretary-general, said that its supporters don't plan to take part in protests, and hinted that they were open to further discussions with the president.
“We are not calling for people to take to the streets at this stage," Jouvet said in an interview with France Info. "The emergency is in the debate, in the political discussion, even if Emmanuel Macron's decision worries us deeply.”
There's no rulebook that requires Macron to name a candidate from the party that won the most seats, or specifies a timeline for a decision. The absence of any dominant political bloc is unprecedented in France’s recent political history.
Macron’s office said last week that he would name a prime minister based on consultations that started Friday and were aimed at “moving towards the broadest and most stable majority possible.”
Politicians from the center, the right and the far right have suggested that they would try to bring down any government that includes members from France Unbowed.
Macron appears more eager to seek a coalition that could include politicians from the center-left to the traditional right.
Other names that have emerged in French media as potential candidates to become prime minister include center-left politician Bernard Cazeneuve, a former prime minister in 2016-2017 who also served as France’s interior minister during a series of deadly extremist attacks in 2015, and Xavier Bertrand, a former minister considered relatively moderate within the French right. Conservative politician Michel Barnier, EU’s chief negotiator for post-Brexit talks, is also considered a potential candidate.
The French president said last month that he would keep the outgoing centrist government on a purely caretaker role to “handle current affairs,” notably during the Paris Olympics, which ended on Aug. 11.