By: Barrika Suresh

The French president, Emmanuel Macron is coming near the end of his second term, as he was re-elected in 2022 and will remain president until 2027. French presidents only serve two terms, as there is a limit. There is mounting pressure on Macron to name a new prime minister and diffuse the ongoing political crisis. Apple News reported that “The president called for ‘a meeting of different political forces’ to discuss forming a new government after the collapse of the last minority administration” according to the Greens after meeting Macron.

Some backstory to this is that no single party gained an absolute majority in the Assembly following the 2022 elections. Despite gaining the most seats, Macron’s Ensemble! Coalition was unable to win a majority.

Significant gains were made in the elections by the right-wing group National Rally, led by Marine Le Pen, and the left-wing alliance Nupes, which consists of the Socialist group, Communist Party, France Insoumise, and the Green Party of France. In other words, Macron was now in charge of a minority administration, putting his government in a scenario known as a “cohabition” in French politics, where the president and prime minister are from different parties.

Macron’s failure to obtain a majority resulted in ongoing deadlock and made it impossible to pass important laws. This meant that in order to pass legislation, Macron and his prime minister, Michel Barnier, had to approach the opposition one at a time for support. This is extremely difficult in the current political climate.

Political unrest has resulted from Macron’s legislation majority’s collapse, with demonstrations and discontent mounting over the government’s failure to enact important reforms, particularly on matters like labor laws and pensions.

As a result, Macron’s political standing deteriorated, and the opposition-controlled National Assembly made it extremely hard for him to carry out any of his plans. Parliamentary speaker Yael Braun-Pivet urged the president’s centrist campe to join forces with the Republicans, independent MPs and the Socialists to have a majority, so there is no longer a possibility of censure, (which is a formal vote of disapproval against a government official).