Le Pen says France is in a ‘quagmire’ following chaotic elections
France has been on the brink of government paralysis since elections for the National Assembly this month resulted in a split among three major groups
With nine days to go before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen said that the deeply divided country is “in a quagmire” after chaotic legislative elections produced a fragmented parliament.
France has been on the brink of government paralysis since elections for the National Assembly earlier this month resulted in a split among three major political groupings: the New Popular Front leftist coalition, President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist allies and Ms Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party.
The New Popular Front won the most seats but fell well short of the majority needed to govern on its own.
Mr Macron on Tuesday accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and other ministers but asked Mr Attal and other government members to handle affairs in a caretaker capacity until a new government is appointed.
There is no firm timeline for when Mr Macron must name a new prime minister, and it is not yet clear when he will do so.
“We are in the middle of a quagmire,” Ms Le Pen said on Wednesday, a day before the new parliament is to meet.
Ms Le Pen, a three-time presidential candidate and a leading far-right figure in France, blamed both Mr Macron and the left for the post-election chaos.
She criticised Mr Macron for failing to explain when he plans to replace Mr Attal.
The leftist alliance was hastily formed to run in the recent national legislative elections, which were called by Mr Macron after his centrist allies suffered a massive defeat by Ms Le Pen’s National Rally in the June vote to the European Parliament.
It was a gamble Mr Macron made seeking to prevent the far right from gaining power.
Leaders of four parties in the leftist alliance are calling on centrist and other left-wing lawmakers to form “a republican dam” in the National Assembly that would prevent Ms Le Pen’s National Rally from getting any leading positions in the parliament.
Voters, they argued in a statement on Wednesday, have given them “an extremely clear mandate to firmly oppose the extreme right and its rise”.
Ms Le Pen accuses the left and Mr Macron of anti-democratic behaviour by denying her party’s elected officials important positions in the parliament.
The left-wing alliance is doing “enormous harm to democracy,” she said.
