France's Macron won't name leftist prime minister, prolonging political crisis
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00:00For some more analysis on the political situation here in France, I'm joined by
00:03France 74 international affairs editor Angela Diffley
00:06on the studio. Angela, why has Macron ruled out this candidate
00:10proposed by the new popular front, Lucie Castaix,
00:13when traditionally the prime minister would come from the winningest
00:16parliamentary group? Yeah, he's continuing consultations and
00:20we'll talk more about that in a minute. As Emerald said there, so
00:25this election, three roughly equal groupings, nevertheless
00:29the largest grouping is from that left-wing
00:33alliance and they are talking about a denial of democracy
00:36because the candidate they agreed on after much talking
00:39has been flatly rejected by Emmanuel Macron.
00:43Now the reason this is not quite as straightforward as that is that Macron
00:47has, under the constitution, it is his prerogative to choose the
00:54prime minister. Traditionally that prime minister comes
00:57from the party or the grouping with the biggest number of votes,
01:00the biggest number of MPs, that would be this left-wing alliance,
01:05but traditionally that party or grouping that wins the biggest number of votes
01:10also matches the mood and the priorities of the French people
01:15and you can argue that well over 50 percent
01:18of the French people voted for parties on the right and so
01:24their grouping would not accurately match
01:28the mood, the priorities of the French people in these
01:32elections. The other key reason, and this is the reason
01:36that Macron is citing, is that any candidate put forward by this left-wing
01:42alliance would be immediately voted down in a
01:45vote of no confidence. All of the other parties have said so.
01:48We heard Francois Bayrou saying these other parties want nothing to do
01:52with this bloc, so it would not be a stable coalition. Within
01:55no time at all it would be voted down and that is for two reasons.
01:59Any budget it produces, and there has to be a budget by
02:03October, might well be broadly anti-capitalist. It would not
02:08meet the approval of a majority in parliament. It is in many respects an
02:13anti-capitalist alliance because it is dominated by the far left.
02:17The other reason is that for many people
02:20this alliance, because it is dominated by the far left, is just
02:24as unpalatable as the far-right Rassemblement National, which was
02:30boycotted by many voters. This far-left party has failed on several
02:37occasions to denounce violent protests. It has failed. It has
02:42been highly critical of the police and in many ways it is seen as
02:49extreme, as outside the republican arc, as the far-right and that is how
02:55Emmanuel Macron himself qualifies it and a fair number of French voters
02:59are glad that he does. What outcome is Macron hoping for by
03:04continuing these consultations? You met with a delegation from
03:08the right-wing Les Républicains today.
03:11Yes, so those talks with Les Républicains that is now has been
03:15renamed La Droite Républicain. It is the mainstream right party which
03:19was a big force once in French politics. It was Nicolas Sarkozy's
03:24old party, now much reduced, only between 40 and 50 MPs and those
03:30talks this morning went nowhere. Their leader came out and said it was
03:33all very disappointing. Macron proposed nothing. That party has
03:37ruled out any formal coalition with Macron centrists and so they say
03:44they will support on certain policy issues but no change there. What
03:48Macron is trying to do is to prise the centre-left elements away from
03:52that left-wing alliance and try to cobble together some sort of
03:56centrist coalition, national unity government, if you like, from
04:00smaller parties on the right, but the centre-right, right through to
04:05centre-left social democrats, if you like, in that left-wing alliance.
04:09Whether he will be able to do it is extremely doubtful. He has sown
04:14considerable division on the left. It was already there. It has broken
04:17out. Some on that left-wing alliance are calling for his impeachment on
04:21the far left. That has created division because those on the
04:24centre-left want nothing to do with such an idea. There are calls for
04:28protests on the 7th of September. Some on that left-wing alliance back
04:31them, some don't. There is division but so far in terms of finding a
04:35new Prime Minister, we are no nearer. It is hard to imagine him
04:39finding the numbers if the La Droite Républicain is not with him.
04:42It isn't. Tonight he is at the Paralympic Opening Ceremony. Tomorrow
04:46he is off to Serbia. A lot on his plate and the pressure mounting.