French left protests against Macron for ignoring elections

The Insoumise France party (LFI) announced this Tuesday the call for a demonstration, on September 7, against President Emmanuel Macron’s decision not to appoint a prime minister from the leftist New Popular Front (NFP) bloc, which achieved the largest number of seats in legislative elections.

“The president’s decision seriously endangers democracy, by rejecting the result of the polls and a government of the New Popular Front, which won the elections,” LFI said in a statement.

“Given the exceptional gravity of the situation, we call for a firm response from French society,” he added, before trusting that the political, union and associative forces “involved in the defense of democracy will join this call.”

The LFI announcement comes after Marine Tondelier, the main official of the environmentalist party EELV – also part of the NFP -, advanced that there would be “mobilizations” of protest against Macron, although she stressed that they would be “peaceful.”

The Elysée announced yesterday Monday that Macron would not appoint the NFP candidate, Lucie Castets, as prime minister, because that bloc would have no other parliamentary support and would be overthrown by a motion of censure from the other forces.

The presidential headquarters announced that Macron would resume his political consultations today with “party officials and personalities who are distinguished by their experience in the service of the State.”

However, there has been no official announcement of today’s meeting program, although it is known that neither LFI nor the far-right of Marine Le Pen and its allies would be among those invited.

Macron has already met with representatives of a parliamentary group that brings together regionalist and nationalist deputies from various territories in metropolitan and overseas France.

Later, it has been leaked that he will receive the leaders of the conservative party Los Republicanos, which, although it has rejected a coalition with the Macronist bloc, does not rule out collaboration.

However, the left – outside of LFI – refused to go to the Elysée, so the consultations will be brief.

“I refuse to be complicit in a parody of democracy,” said the first secretary of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, this morning in an interview on the France 2 channel. “What is actually happening (.,.) is that (Macron) which does not want the program of the New Popular Front to be applied, that we repeal the pension reform” of last year, he added.