Far-right leader Le Pen says France in political ‘quagmire’ just 9 days ahead of Olympics

Just nine days ahead of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen says the deeply-divided country is “in a quagmire” following chaotic legislative elections that resulted in a hung parliament.

France has been nearing government paralysis since earlier this month, when three alliances emerged on top after the vote count but none achieved a majority, as a party or coalition needed to secure at least 289 of the total 577 seats in the country’s parliament for an outright win.

However, the New Popular Front (NFP) - an alliance of left-leaning parties - won the 188 seats in the second round of voting, managing to prevent the far-right National Rally (RN) and its allies - with 142 - from gaining power.

This is while Ensemble, a centrist coalition led by French President Emmanuel Macron, only managed to secure 161 seats.

Being a loose coalition, the NFP, composed by three primary parties, namely France Unbowed, the Socialists, and the Greens, is urging Macron to collaborate with it to establish a new government. However, they are currently in conflict over the selection of a prime minister.

On Tuesday, Macron accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and several other ministers. However, he requested that Attal and the remaining government members continue to manage their duties in a caretaker role until a new government is formed. There is currently no set timeline for when the president will appoint a new prime minister, and it’s uncertain when that will happen.

“We are in the middle of a quagmire,” Le Pen said Wednesday, a day before the new parliament is to meet.

Le Pen, a three-time presidential candidate and a leading far-right figure in France, blamed both Macron and the left for the post-election chaos. She also criticized Macron for failing to explain when he plans to replace Attal.

“The French people do not know what is happening,” Le Pen said in an interview with BFM TV.

The National Assembly, France’s influential lower house of parliament, is set to convene on Thursday.

In response to a significant defeat suffered by Macron’s centrist allies against Le Pen’s National Rally in the June European Parliament elections, Macron called for recent national legislative elections. To counter the far right’s growing influence, a leftist coalition was swiftly formed, marking a strategic move by Macron to safeguard against their rise to power.

Violent clashes erupt in France after leftists' surprise election win

Violence has erupted in France after a left-wing coalition won the most seats in the country’s parliamentary elections.

Leaders of four parties in the leftist alliance are urging centrist and other left-leaning lawmakers to create “a republican barrier” in the National Assembly to stop Le Pen’s National Rally from securing key positions in parliament.

In a statement on Wednesday, they claimed that voters have provided them with “a very clear mandate to strongly resist the extreme right and its growing influence.”

Le Pen, for her part, accuses the left and Macron of what she calls anti-democratic behavior by denying her party’s elected lawmakers important positions in the parliament.

The left-wing alliance is doing “enormous harm to democracy,” she said.

Unlike many other nations, French politics is not designed for coalition building, which means that for the next calendar year, this surprise parliament is expected to showcase the divisiveness and intolerance which almost pushed the far right to power.

The Paris 2024 Olympics games officially begin with the opening ceremony on July 26, setting off the two-and-a-half-week sports event which comes to an end on August 11.

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