'It's now MPs who choose a government not voters': the changing face of French politics
In an interview with Mediapart, French constitutional law specialist Jean-Marie Denquin analyses the implications of centrist MP Yaël Braun-Pivet's re-election as president of the National Assembly on Thursday, when she narrowly beat the Left's own candidate for this prestigious and important post. This was despite the fact that the Left had won more seats than anyone else in the recent elections, while Emmanuel Macron's centre-right alliance itself lost scores of MPs. The academic also outlines the broader challenges facing the Left with the advent of what he calls a “new system” - a parliamentary rather than the previous presidential one - that favours the concentration of power at the centre rather than the extremes. Interview by Fabien Escalona.
TheTheallocation of key posts in the National Assembly has highlighted the dawn of an unprecedented era in French politics following President Emmanuel Macron’s unexpected decision to dissolve the Assembly last month and the outcome of the subsequent elections. It has underlined the fact that there is no longer any majority in the Assembly, even for the largest bloc, and also shown that alliances are being formed on the Right at the expense of the Left. This is despite the fact that it was the latter who were the main architects of a concerted effort by mainstream republican politicians to thwart the far-right in the elections, and despite the fact that the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) leftwing alliance won the largest number of seats in the second round of those elections on July 7th.
