With just 15 days until the Olympic Games begin in Paris, a major French union leader has called for mass strikes to pressure President Emmanuel Macron into acknowledging the results of recent legislative elections and allowing a leftist coalition to form a new government.
France faces potential governing paralysis following Sunday’s National Assembly vote, which resulted in a split legislature. The New Popular Front leftist coalition, Macron’s centrist allies, and Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally each secured significant portions of the vote. Although the New Popular Front won the most seats, they did not achieve an outright majority.
The coalition, comprising the hard-left France Unbowed, the Socialists, and the Greens, has urged Macron to let them form the new government. Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT union, emphasized the urgency of this demand in an interview with France Inter on Thursday. “If Macron does not respect the election results, he risks plunging the country into chaos,” Binet stated.
Binet called on union members to mobilize and join rallies to apply pressure on the National Assembly. She argued that popular pressure is necessary to ensure the election results are respected. Despite internal divisions within the New Popular Front, preventing them from proposing a candidate for prime minister, Binet insisted that Macron should still allow them to govern.
President Macron has asked his prime minister, Gabriel Attal, to continue managing daily affairs, even though Attal offered his resignation. Macron’s decision to wait for the formation of a “Republican” majority before appointing a new prime minister has frustrated the leftist coalition and unions.
The inaugural session of the new legislature is set for July 18. As tensions rise, the call for strikes adds another layer of complexity to France’s already turbulent political landscape, just as the nation prepares to host a major international event.
