France’s outgoing parliament president Yael Braun-Pivet won a second mandate yesterday, in a vote that President Emmanuel Macron’s camp hopes will boost their chances to run the government and defeat the left.Braun-Pivet scored 220 ballots while her main rival for the job, veteran communist lawmaker Andre Chassaigne, received 207 votes in a close race that required three rounds of voting.The lower house of parliament was meeting for the first time since this month’s inconclusive election in which the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance unexpectedly came first, ahead of Macron’s centristsand Marine Le Pen’s far-right, but no-one group won a majority.Electing the lower house of parliament’s president, equivalent to a speaker who organises the chamber’s agenda and runs debates, is usually a formality.But running parliament has taken on more importance this time, with Macron weakened and a lot of uncertainty over who will form thenext government and how effective it could be in a divided parliament.The vote could — without certainty — offer clues as to whether a coalition government that commands a working majority can be formed and what its political colours could be."We have no choice: we have to get along, we have to co-operate, we have to seek compromise, we have to be able to talk to each other and move forward”, Braun-Pivet said in a speech after the outcome of the vote was announced.Braun-Pivet, 53, was the candidate put forward by Macron’s Together group, who want to strike a deal with other mainstream parties to form a government that could include some of the NFP but exclude the hard-left France Unbowed.Following yesterday’s parliament speaker appointment, attention will return to who will run the government.Centrist Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has resigned but is, for now, staying on in a caretaker capacity.The caretaker government could well stay on for the Olympic Games, which Paris is hosting from July 26 to Aug. 11, and possibly beyond.
July 18, 2024 | 11:53 PM