France Unbowed is now hardening its tone, significantly weakening the prospect of a successful outcome. Mélenchon’s movement said it would no longer take part in discussions on the formation of a government until “the Socialist Party gives up on its refusal to accept any candidacy other than its own” and “affirms its unwillingness to enter into any kind of agreement with the pro-Macron camp.”
The Socialist Party pushed back against the notion that it was stalling talks in a statement Monday.
Hoping to bring LFI back to the negotiation table, the Greens, Socialists and Communists said Monday that they had jointly submitted a potential prime minister from outside the political sphere, whose name has not yet been made public.
Centrist leaders, meanwhile, are closely following the infighting on the left, hoping that a breakdown in talks would draw the Socialist Party away from its more radical allies and open the prospect of a coalition spanning from social democrats to conservatives.
Can the NFP make it to Day 1?
The clock is ticking. New Popular Front faces its first deadline on Thursday, when newly elected lawmakers kick off the legislature. The first point of order on the agenda: electing the president of the National Assembly, a matter the left-wing coalition has also failed to agree on so far.
The leader of the French lower house is elected in a three-round voting system. An absolute majority is needed to win in the first or second round; if no winner appears, whoever gets the most votes in the third round is elected.
The left bloc, being the largest in the National Assembly, would stand a fair chance of winning if coalition members settle on a candidate.
Failure to do so would effectively put an end to the NFP’s capacity to present itself as a cohesive group and the leading force in French politics.
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