Two months after the snap parliamentary elections called by president Emmanuel Macron, the leftwing alliance, the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP), which won 179 seats, will not form a government. Instead, it is Michel Barnier, a veteran member of the conservative Les Républicains party, which garnered just 39 seats, who was on Thursday appointed as prime minister and who is now forming a rightwing government.
For the supporters of the NFP, which is composed of the radical-left La France Insoumise party, the Socialist Party, the communist Party and Les Écologistes, formerly EELV) have come off an emotional roller coaster ride over the summer, their heads spinning from a journey that began in euphoria and ended with consternation.
One of them is Cathy Aberdam, co-manager of a café in the town of Montpellier, southern France, which is run by an association to encourage cultural, social and educational projects. Called Quartier Généreux (Generous Quarter), or simply QG (which translates into English as 'HQ'), it hosted a party of hundreds of people on the evening of July 7th, most spilling into the street outside. They were celebrating the results of the second and final round of the parliamentary elections, when the NFP won the most seats and the far-right Rassemblement National party (RN), tipped by many observers to come first was beaten into third place.
Sixty days on, Aberdam is joining in a demonstration in Montpellier, one of around 150 protests across France on Saturday, in protest at both Macron’s refusal to appoint an NFP government and Barnier’s appointment. “When I learnt the name of the prime minister, I said to myself ‘But it can’t be true!’,” she said.
Enlargement : Illustration 1
Under the French constitution, it is the president who nominates the prime minister. Until the political crisis triggered by Macron when he called the snap elections, it has been a straightforward process of appointing as prime minister a representative of the largest political force in parliament. But the hung parliament that emerged from the elections in July left a minefield for any government because they can mathematically be toppled by a no-confidence vote.
Macron publicly justified his rejection of the NFP’s candidate for prime minister – 38-year-old civil servant Lucie Castets – on the grounds that the NFP government would be soon rejected because of the opposition to the leading presence of the radical-left La France Insoumise (LFI) party in the leftwing coalition. But more importantly, the NFP programme for governing included a number of changes that would unstitch many of Macron’s economic policies, and notably the overturning of his pensions system reform which raised the retirement age on full pension rights by two years.
Barnier’s government will only survive with the support of the far-right Rassemblemnt National party (RN), which has the third-largest number of seats in parliament (142, behind the 150 for the Macronist centre-right alliance). For the moment, the RN has given the green light for Barnier.
It was at the end of August, following Macron’s rejection of Castets as prime minister, that the protests were called for this Saturday. But with Barnier’s appointment, which came after weeks of procrastination by Macron and consultations with political leaders, the demonstrations this Saturday take on a new dimension. “We’re not being robbed of our victory – because I’m not sure that it was one – but, rather, [robbed] of our relief,” said Murielle Kosman, a member of two Montpellier-based associations for the defence of public services, “Nos services publics” and “Une école, un avenir”. “We turned out massively at the urns in July in face of the threat of seeing the Rassemblement National in power, only to see, in the end, the nomination of a prime minister who is dependent upon the validation of [RN figurehead] Marine Le Pen.”
The joyful surprise of the evening of July 7th, when the NFP score belied all the forecasts – has given way to a cold torpor over the final outcome. “’We feel bogged down,” added Kosman. “You say to yourself ‘Really, at the end of 60 days, it’s that?’”. Kosman said she was previously uncertain to join in the demonstration in Montpellier, but with the appointment of Barnier she no longer has any hesitation, and will turn up at the Place de la Prefecture in Montpellier for the protest at 6pm. “One must go there, even if you don’t have much breath. It might be the start of something.”
No-one Mediapart spoke to in Montpellier was confident of predicting the turnout for the protest. “One could ask ‘but what’s the point, given even our vote was not respected?’,” commented Aberdam. “But yes, one must go there, to join with others, to get the energy back.”
Aberdam is a member of groups on WhatsApp and Telegram which connect leftwing activists in the local Hérault département (county), and she said the mood has changed: “Just after the second round [of the elections], when Macron declared a truce [in negotiations for a new government] during the Olympic Games, there were many messages of indignation. Then, nothing much. Even the nomination of Michel Barnier didn’t set off much. Yesterday, one person came up with ‘Am I the only one who is resigned?’.” Aberdam said she understood the feeling of resignation. She also believes it is the aim of the president’s “strategy of shock” and the exhaustion at what she called “state violence”.
“There is the violence of Macron’s words ever since his first term in office, for example when he talks about crossing the street [Editor’s note: a reference to Macron’s remarks at an Élysée Palace garden party in 2018 to a man complaining he could not find a job in his chosen field of horticulture. Macron said many jobs were available in restaurants and hotels, and could be found by crossing the street]. There is physical violence and repression by the police. And now, the violence of not respecting the outcome of the urns. The iteration of the violence and the failure to take into account the will of the people can lead to resignation.” But Aberdam said she was convinced that fatalism could rapidly be replaced by action.
We’ve spent our time explaining to people that one must believe in the power of the ballot box. What can we say to them now?
“It is, all the same, a terrible defeat for all those people who came to militate for the first time out of hope. It disgusts me,” said Arnaud Matarin, spokesman for a local political movement, Nous Sommes, on the Montpellier town council. He said he is also concerned at what might be the reaction of those his movement tried to convince to vote for the NPF in door-to-door campaigning ahead of the elections. “We’ve spent our time explaining to people that one must believe in the power of the ballot box. What can we say to them now? I admit that I’m a bit apprehensive.”
Cathy Aberdam agreed. “There is a form of responsibility in having set people in movement, to have given them messages of hope,” she said. “But there is no guilt, above all none, because it’s not our fault if we’ve been abused.” She estimates that around 60% of those who campaigned locally for the NFP in the run-up to the elections had never before engaged in political activism, and that around 30% of that group were not members of any political party or association. “Those people stepped forward and saw, on July 7th, that it served a purpose. And now, everything has been swept away.”
Thomas (last name withheld) is one of them. A militant for the environmentalist cause, and an employee of an association which organises workshops on the environment in schools, he had never before engaged in political activism, but during the election campaign he joined in leafleting for the NFP. On Friday, he popped into the Quartier Généreux café to ask at what time Saturday’s protest would take place.
He said he was left speechless by Macron’s appointment of Michel Barnier. “He’s from the Right and what’s more he chose the eldest of the gang,” he laughed (Barnier is 73). On the question of what effect the dashed hopes of the election result has had on him, Thomas said: “I’m divided. Yes, what’s happening is very disappointing, but I think I’ll continue to give a hand.”
Arnaud Matarin said he was “more downcast” than fired up, but also felt “immense anger”, including at “the rightwing of the Socialist Party”, which is part of the NFP coalition, who he said “played its internal game before thinking about the common good”. He especially targeted the socialist head of the local Occitania regional council (and who is also head of the association representing all 18 French regions), and the socialist mayor of Montpellier, Michaël Delafosse. “They profited from erring ways to play their score to take the Socialist Party and pull it to the Right. I’m very angry at them.” But not just them, for he is also livid about “the Macronists, who benefited from the republican front and now deal with the RN”. The “republican front” refers to the electoral strategy agreed by the NFP and Macron’s centre-right Renaissance party in which, in order to prevent the election of a far-right candidate, the NFP or Renaissance candidate who had less chance of winning a constituency would withdraw in favour of the other.
Matarin said he would return to active campaigning for the NFP. “It is our responsibility as local militants,” he said. “The NFP was not just a cartel of parties, as was said by some. It federated hope among the working-class population and we don’t have the right to disappoint them.”
-------------------------
The original French version of this report can be found here.
English version by Graham Tearse