French president Emmanuel Macron has been accused of denying democracy after he rejected the left-wing coalition’s candidate for prime minister following last month’s inconclusive election.
As president, Mr Macron has sole power to name the prime minister.
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 Mr 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. Mr 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 is the largest group.
On Monday, Mr 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 would not endorse a left-wing government, Mr 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.
Left-wing leaders lashed out at Mr Macron, accusing him of endangering French democracy and denying the election results.
The Socialists and the Greens refused to meet the president for a new round of talks on Tuesday.
France Unbowed, whose leaders were not invited to the Élysée presidential palace, called for mass protests against Mr Macron. They say that he 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”.
Francois Ruffin, an MP with France Unbowed, said in a post on X 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 do not 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,” Mr 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 is no rulebook that requires Mr 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.
Mr Macron’s office said last week that he would name a prime minister based on consultations that started on Friday and were aimed at “moving towards the broadest and most stable majority possible”.
Politicians from the centre, the right and the far right have suggested that they would try to bring down any government that includes members from France Unbowed. - AP