MONITORING (SW) – France has been plunged into political crisis after a no-confidence vote brought down the government, ending the beleaguered minority coalition of the rightwing prime minister Michel Barnier after only three months.
The no-confidence motion brought by an alliance of left-wing parties was supported by MPs from Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration, far-right, National Rally. A total of 331 lawmakers — a clear majority — voted on Wednesday night to bring down the government, reported Guardian.
Barnier will resign as prime minister on Thursday morning, having warned before the vote that France would be “plunged into the unknown”.
The toppling of the government leaves the president, Emmanuel Macron, facing the worst political crisis of his two terms as president. There is uncertainty over how a 2025 budget can be decided as France faces a growing public deficit, and over whom Macron could appoint as prime minister.
Macron, whose second term as president runs until spring 2027, is not obliged to stand down himself. He has ruled out resigning, calling such a scenario “political fiction”. But part of the left and far right called for his exit.
Wednesday’s vote was the country’s 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 became the shortest of any administration of France’s Fifth Republic, which began in 1958.
No new parliament elections can be called before July 2025, narrowing Macron’s options faced with a deeply divided national assembly.
Since Macron called a sudden and inconclusive snap election in June, the French parliament has been divided between three groups with no absolute majority. A left alliance took the largest number of votes but fell short of an absolute majority; Macron’s centrist grouping suffered losses but is still standing and Le Pen far-right National Rally gained seats but was held back from power by tactical voting from the left and centre.
