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PARIS: French lawmakers voted to oust the government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier on Wednesday after just three months in office, a historic move which plunged the country further into political chaos.
For the first time in over sixty years, the National Assembly toppled the incumbent government, approving a no-confidence motion that had been proposed by the hard left, but which crucially was backed by the far-right headed by Marine Le Pen.
Michel Barnier’s rapid ejection from office comes after snap parliamentary elections this summer which resulted in a hung parliament, with no party having an overall majority and the far-right holding the key to the government’s survival.
President Emmanuel Macron now has the unenviable choice of picking a viable successor with over two years of his presidential term left.
The National Assembly debated a motion brought by the hard left in a standoff over next year’s austerity budget, after the prime minister forced through a social security financing bill without a vote on Monday.
With the support of the far-right, a majority of 331 MPs in the 577-member chamber voted to oust the government.
Speaker Yael Braun-Pivet confirmed Barnier would now have to “submit his resignation” to President Macron and declared the session closed.
Macron flew back into Paris just ahead of the vote after wrapping up his three-day state visit to Saudi Arabia, an apparent world away from the domestic crisis.
He strolled earlier in the day through the desert sands of Al Ula oasis, an iconic tourist project, marvelling at ancient landmarks.
After landing, he headed direct to the Elysee Palace.
On Tuesday, Macron accused Le Pen’s far-right of “unbearable cynicism” in backing the motion.
No new elections can be called within a year of last summer’s vote, narrowing Macron’s options.
Laurent Wauquiez, the head of right-wing deputies in parliament, said the far-right and hard-left bore the responsibility for a no-confidence vote that will “plunge the country into instability”.
‘His failure’
Some have suggested President Macron himself should resign to break the impasse.
But Macron rejected those calls, saying such a scenario amounted to “political fiction”.
“It’s frankly not up to scratch to say these things,” Macron said during his trip to Saudi Arabia.
Eric Coquerel, a hard-left MP, said the motion against Barnier sounded the “death knell of Emmanuel Macron’s mandate”.
Shortest stint
It was the first successful no-confidence vote since a defeat for Georges Pompidou’s government in 1962, when Charles de Gaulle was president.
The lifespan of Barnier’s government is also the shortest of any administration since the Fifth Republic began in 1958.
Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2024
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