It is nearly three months since President Emmanuel Macron dissolved parliament in a misguided attempt to bring political “clarity” to France. The shock snap elections in which his centrist alliance was roundly beaten have brought anything but clarity, even if voters rejected installing the far-right in power. France has now had a caretaker government for more than six weeks, the longest such stint since the beginning of the fourth republic in 1946.
Macron in effect declared a political truce over the summer. It was no doubt appreciated by many French people during a highly successful Olympic Games and the sacrosanct August holidays. But the country has been rudderless for too long. And there is no stable coalition in sight that could command a solid majority in the National Assembly.
After belatedly beginning consultations with party leaders on Friday, the president on Monday rejected an attempt by the leftwing Nouveau Front Populaire, a four-party alliance that came first in June’s parliamentary elections with 180 seats in an assembly of 577. Despite some vaguely compromising signals from Lucie Castets, the little known senior civil servant the NFP put forward as its candidate for prime minister, the left intended to govern alone and implement its programme in full. The president concluded, with some justification, that the NFP would be instantly voted down by the other parties and could not provide the “institutional stability” the country requires.