Paris: A divided Parliament, a Prime Minister in difficulty, a stalled budget, a President in a political limbo since the dissolution and re-election of his government; there is a general sentiment in the air that the French President, Emmanuel Macron needs to resign. There have been several calls for his resignation in the recent days.
Earlier this week, Jean-François Copé, a French politician of the right-wing political party, Les Républicains called for the organisation of an early presidential election, gauging that French President Emmanuel Macron will not be able to continue till 2027 which is the end of his mandate, given the current political situation.
The general budget rapporteur in the National Assembly, Charles de Courson from the Les Centristes party also told the press this week that “the only solution to respond to the political chaos caused by the dissolution of the National Assembly would be a resignation of the President of the Republic.”
The extreme right National Rally’s MP, Sébastien Chenu also echoed a similar opinion. The latest to sound the ‘knell of resignation’ was Manuel Bompard, the coordinator of the left-wing party, La France Insoumise (LFI) He sent a letter this Friday to the Home Minister, Bruno Retailleau to find out the modalities of organising an early Presidential election.
Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government that has been formed with a lot of hiccups owing to political deadlock is under a serious threat of a motion of no confidence.
The left-wing parties and the National Rally are vehemently opposing Barnier’s government on the budget texts currently being debated in Parliament. LFI is again trying to bring about a new impeachment procedure against Macron, after their first attempt was rejected in early October.
According to a poll carried out by a French research and analysis institute, ELABE, 63% of the French are in favour of the resignation of Emmanuel Macron.
This opinion is widely shared by National Rally voters (83%) and those of the left-wing parties that make up the coalition New Popular Front (76%), but also by a portion of Les Républicains voters (48%) and surprisingly even 27% of those of Macron’s own coalition, Ensemble pour la République.
Even though the French President’s resignation is currently only hypothetical, the French Constitution does allow for the head of state to leave office. While the Constitution does not specifically mention this scenario, there is nothing written to thwart it.
However, it clearly defines the deadline for organising early presidential elections. In the event of death or resignation of a President, elections must be held at least twenty days and at most thirty-five days after the start of the presidential vacancy.
During this period, the presidential functions are exercised by the President of the Senate which is the Upper House of the French Parliament. According to the law on the presidential election by universal suffrage, the government must publish the list of candidates at least fifteen days before the first round of voting.
Although the next French presidential election is officially only in April 2027, several politicians have already declared themselves candidates in recent months. Marine Le Pen is but of course the natural choice of the National Rally.
Unfortunately for Le Pen, the threat of ineligibility looms over her if convicted in the current EU public funds embezzlement trial. If she is ousted from the race, the President of the National Rally, the young Jordan Bardella will replace her as Presidential candidate.
Edouard Philippe, Emmanuel Macron’s former Prime Minister has also officially declared himself a candidate. Xavier Bertrand of the right-wing party, Les Republicains is another candidate. As for the left-wing parties, no candidate has come forth.
However, several leftist supporters would like to see Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the LFI run for President who himself has hinted that he may be vying for the Presidential throne.
