FRANCE’S ongoing electoral crisis has been directly and deliberately created by the head of state President Emmanuel Macron, in the name of “institutional stability” — playing into the hands of the fascist-led National Rally.

Macron says that the winners of the election, the New Popular Front (NPF) — the coalition of the Communist Party, France Unbowed, the Socialist Party and the Ecologists — cannot possibly be allowed to form a government as they would “immediately” be brought down, since they do not have an overall majority of seats in the National Assembly. 

Of course Macron fails to remember that he happily appointed Gabriel Attal to head up a minority government of his own Ensemble party in 2022 — the second “Macronist” minority government during his presidency — and, with this memory lapse, feels able unilaterally to reject Lucie Castets, the prime ministerial candidate nominated by the winners of the most seats in the Assembly. 

It is this that has deliberately destabilised the electoral process. The parties of the NPF, confident of building successful government alliances, have variously identified it as an anti-democratic coup, threatened to start impeachment of the president, and called — with the leading trade unions — for mass workplace and street demonstrations, and mobilisation of the people across France, beginning on September 7.

Carefully co-ordinated statements have come from all the other parties and coalitions elected to the Assembly — all parties of monopoly capitalism from Macron’s “Ensemble” through other “centrists,” the right-wing Republicans to the fascist-led National Rally; they promise openly to flout the election result and to bring down any prime minister and government of the New Popular Front. 

It is a declaration of war by all these minority parties against the “threat” of transformative progressive policies — particularly when they originate from socialist and communist parties.

A left-wing government, Macron says, “would be immediately censored by all the other groups represented in the National Assembly” and “the institutional stability of our country therefore requires us not to choose this option.” 

But it’s not minority government that has thrown Macron as head of state into such fear and trembling. It is the old spectre of socialism and communism that is haunting him and his ruling class. Thus, he leads and promotes political censorship of any left-wing government — minority or majority — and plays into the hands of the National Rally.

He is now ostensibly again discussing possible deals between the horse traders of the neoliberal parties — and, it is rumoured, trying to tempt elements of the Socialist Party to come to his aid. But nothing very “stable” seems likely to emerge, as he scrapes the bottom of the barrel that houses a mish mash of small discredited parties, already rejected overwhelmingly by the people in the election.

The extreme-right National Rally are already calling for a new election at the earliest opportunity, hoping to capitalise on the continuing chaos and confusion to offset  their humiliation of coming third, by offering “strong government” in the form of Marine Le Pen’s jackboots that would replace her designer stilettos as soon as she gets her feet under the table. 

Their defeat a few weeks ago was brought about by the bravery and unity of the supporters of the NPF that Macron now identifies as unfit for government.  
He is of course very careful not to dwell on the lack of government suitability of Le  Pen’s fascist National Rally. 

It is the vote of the NR deputies that the head of state depends on to join with those of his “Ensemble” to make his predictions an NPF government would be unstable credible, and to potentially keep him in office if the threat of impeachment becomes a reality. 

The reality is that, if it takes the National Rally to protect neoliberal capitalism from challenge, the parties of the centre and right would much rather see them in office than the New Popular Front with its progressive, pro-working class agenda

For the NPF, Marine Tondelier, of the Ecologists says that “Macron hides behind the need for ‘stability.’ If only he knew how many people on the contrary really want things to change... need it even! But, he and all those he enriches, it’s certain, have no interest in anything other than stability. We understand very well why. And we won’t let it happen.”

And ss Communist Patrick Le Hyaric wrote in the party’s newspaper L’Humanite: “The working class will not continue to accept being scorned, dominated and exploited for long while their votes are thrown overboard when they do not coincide with the will of the laudators of the circle of capitalist reason. 

“The popular movement will have to regain strength in various forms. The New Popular Front must put itself at the movement’s service, strengthen its unity, deploy throughout the country, organise united actions in parliament and in the streets using all constitutional mechanisms to thwart this velvet coup d’etat against the will of the ballot boxes.”