(Bloomberg) -- Veteran climate negotiator Laurence Tubiana, who was put forward by France’s Socialist Party as a potential prime minister, withdrew her candidacy after the New Popular Front alliance of left-wing parties failed to unite behind her.
“I note that my name met with opposition within the New Popular Front,” Tubiana wrote Monday in a post on X. “All this no longer seems to me to lead to the appeasement we so badly need.”
The New Popular Front, which includes parties from the far-left France Unbowed to the moderate Socialists, is struggling to agree on who to put forward as prime minister. While Tubiana had received support from the Greens and the Communists, France Unbowed opposed having her as the left’s candidate.
President Emmanuel Macron’s shock decision last month to dissolve parliament threw France into political chaos, and fragmented the lower house into three primary groups – the New Popular Front, which holds the most seats; the centrist Ensemble that is second; and Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally in third.
No faction holds enough seats to govern on its own, putting the country in the unprecedented situation of having to rely on several parties across the ideological spectrum to form the next administration.
Macron is constitutionally empowered to pick a new prime minister and it’s been accepted practice to appoint someone from the biggest group in the National Assembly. As a counterweight, lawmakers can call confidence votes in the government.
This means choosing a premier with broad enough appeal to stay in place and build majorities on a case-by-case basis to pass legislation.
--With assistance from Tom Fevrier.
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