France’s disgraced former trade minister Thomas Thévenoud, forced to quit over “tax issues” last week, has announced he will not give up his seat in parliament – but just not as a representative of President François Hollande’s Socialist Party, reports FRANCE 24.
It is bad news for Hollande, who is now left with a majority of just one socialist member in the 577-seat National Assembly
Thévenoud was forced to resign from his ministerial post after just nine days on the job, following reports that he had failed to file a tax return for several years.
Since then, the disgraced former minister had been under pressure to quit parliament as well, amid speculation that holding on to his seat would further hurt France’s most unpopular president in modern history.
The decision to leave the socialist group in parliament is unlikely to appease critics clamouring for Thévenoud’s resignation altogether from parliament.
It also leaves Hollande with the problem of a wafer-thin majority as he face a confidence vote in his new government next week.
To get through the vote of confidence, Hollande and his prime minister, Manuel Valls, will have to rely on the support of 40 or so socialist rebels on the left wing of the party, who disagree with their economic policy, believing it to be a shift to the right.
Read more of this report from FRANCE 24.
Read Mediapart's coverage of Thomas Thévenoud's resignation as a minister here.