Pressure is beginning to mount on French President Emmanuel Macron, with opinion polls showing that a majority of French people want him to step down.
According to Ipsos investigation for Le Monde A newspaper poll conducted between July 26 and August 1 found that 51 percent of French people support President Macron's resignation.
The poll also found that 53% were dissatisfied with Mr Macron's leadership, compared with just 15% who said they were satisfied and 32% who were unsatisfied.
The investigation comes amid continued political turmoil in France, where the country has been without a real government for nearly two months and Prime Minister Gabriel Atal remains in caretaker mode without the power to make new laws.
Macron allied with the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) in the final election campaign to stop Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) party from winning the second round of last month's general election, but has so far refused to form a government with the NFP.
This has led to calls for impeachment from the far-left party Indomitable France (LFI), led by former presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who is often compared to Bernie Sanders in the US and Jeremy Corbyn in the UK.
France in limbo: Macron denies cooperation with far-left after Le Pen declares intent to overthrow governmenthttps://t.co/C6s2AxuMeL
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 27, 2024
LFI is Claimed “We must defend democracy from the president's authoritarian tendencies.” But the far-left may not have much of a case to make, given that although the New Popular Front won the most seats, it did not receive the most votes, an honor that went to Le Pen's National Rally.
The NFP has also called on Macron to appoint Lucy Castets as the next prime minister, but Castets, a socialist economist and former French deep state bureaucrat, has never been elected to any office and did not stand in last month's election, weakening the left's claim to be the savior of democracy.
It's also unclear whether Mélenchon can build enough bridges to muster the votes needed to impeach Macron, which requires a two-thirds majority in both the National Assembly and the Senate combined, meaning the far-left leader will likely need to convince Le Pen supporters to get over that hurdle.
The French constitution is fairly vague about what to do if parliament is divided, or what elements are needed to trigger the impeachment of a president. Article 68 of the constitution says the president may be removed from office “in case of a breach of duties manifestly incompatible with the performance of his functions.” Before 2007, the president could only be impeached for “high treason,” which was a bit clearer.
No mercy! Le Pen declares a vote of no confidence in any left-wing government formed by Macronhttps://t.co/AQsZJvKeNf
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 26, 2024
