'Macron was elected as a minority president and still is - but he acts as if he wasn't'
In an interview with Mediapart, France's former human rights ombudsman Jacques Toubon has urged the president and his political allies to cede part of their power in order that a government with a working majority can be constructed. Himself a former politician of the Right, Toubon warns of the risk of a far-right victory if new snap parliamentary elections were to be held. And the ex-Défenseur des droits also regrets the fact that the Right has nothing left to offer but a long drawn-out contest with Marine Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement National.
HeHe has stood out in recent years for his stance in favour of fundamental freedoms and the fight against discrimination. At the time of the snap parliamentary elections in 2024, he was one of the few figures from the Right to warn of the need to “set up a broad republican front” among mainstream parties against the far-right, and one that did not exclude the radical-left La France Insoumise (LFI). “The republican front has some unacceptable nuances, in my opinion,” he said at the time, as a debate took place among centrists and on the centre-right as to whether the LFI should be included in it.
