Leaders of France’s leftwing coalition declared they were “extremely satisfied” after Emmanuel Macron launched the first of a series of tense consultations aimed at pulling together a new government, reports The Guardian.
The New Popular Front (NFP) wants the president to name its candidate prime minister to break a six-week political deadlock.
Macron had already rejected the NFP’s proposed candidate, 37-year-old civil servant Lucie Castets, as prime minister, saying he wanted a government leader with “broad and stable” support to avoid a parliamentary vote of no confidence that would cause further political chaos.
After the hour-long meeting at the Elysée on Friday morning, NFP representatives suggested the talks, predicted to be tense, had been positive even if Macron has yet to name a PM.
“After two months, the president is beginning to understand he lost the election,” said Manuel Bompard, of the hard-left La France Insoumise (France Unbowed), a member of the coalition. However, he said Macron should act as “a referee … not a selector”.
France has been in a political stalemate since the beginning of July after the legislative election failed to produce a majority. The vote divided the Assemblée Nationale, the lower house of parliament, into three roughly equal blocs – left, centre and far right – none of which has a working majority.