France’s newly elected lawmakers are competing and seeking alliances to snag the prestigious post of president of the National Assembly, in the first test of the power dynamics in the country’s hung parliament.
In a secret ballot set for Thursday afternoon, the 577 MPs in the lower house will select their president, the fourth-highest position in the government, after the newly elected body convenes for the first time.
Since the election on July 7, France has no single party or alliance close to an outright majority. No new government has been formed, while President Emmanuel Macron has tasked his outgoing prime minister Gabriel Attal with staying on in a caretaker capacity.
The choice of the assembly’s president has taken on an outsized importance, since the post could be a stepping stone for one faction to claim the premiership, or for an alternative loose coalition to emerge.
The body’s president also oversees parliamentary debates, makes key nominations such as to the constitutional court, and can refer draft laws for constitutional review.
Jean Garrigues, a historian specialising in French institutions, said: “The choice of the president of the assembly is usually important but this time it is exceptionally important since the person will have to guarantee the fairness of debates and help craft much-needed compromise.”
He said it would also “provide a signal” of who might become prime minister, “perhaps in a technical government if no political one can be formed”.
Garrigues added that the fractured parliament meant parties would again have to learn how to compromise and build coalitions — a practice that had been lost since the Fifth republic was created in 1958 with a presidentially driven system.
After losing about 80 seats and coming in second in the election, Macron’s centrist group has manoeuvred in recent days to prevent the winner, the leftwing Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) alliance, from claiming the presidency of the lower house.
By winning the most seats with about 180 MPs, the NFP — made up of far-left party La France Insoumise (LFI), the more moderate Socialists and Greens, and others — should have been in pole position for someone from its ranks to become prime minister, but infighting has left it unable to agree on a candidate.
They have managed to put forth a unified candidacy for the National Assembly president though: Communist MP André Chassaigne.
Macron, who has the power to appoint the prime minister, has also ignored the NFP’s calls for a premier from among their number. Instead he has advocated for a broad “governing pact” stretching from the centre-left to the conservative right, to exclude the LFI and far-right Rassemblement National (RN).
Attal has begun talks with other party chiefs to hash out such a bare-bones accord around a handful of legislative priorities.
The conservative Les Républicains, although only holding about 55 seats with their allies, are emerging as a potential powerbroker.
Laurent Wauquiez, an MP who heads the conservative group, told Le Figaro newspaper his party was also working on a “legislative pact” to propose to Macron’s camp, including measures to boost take-home pay and cut immigration, but he emphasised that they were unwilling to enter a coalition government.
Marc Ferracci, an MP and vice-president of Macron’s group in the assembly, said the competition for the body’s presidency would give a signal of how to resolve the political impasse.
“If the NFP takes the post, it will put pressure on the president to pick a prime minister from their ranks, and on the other hand if we can find a compromise with the LR, it bodes well for us to work with them,” he said.
“We do not want an NFP government at any costs, since they would dismantle our economic reforms and hurt the attractiveness of France.”
To win the post, the candidate has to obtain 289 votes, an outright majority. If no one does so after two rounds of voting, then the candidate with the most votes in the third round wins. New candidates can be presented at any point.
The outgoing National Assembly president Yaël Braun-Pivet, a member of Macron’s party, has declared her candidacy, as has a maverick independent, Charles de Courson. Les Républicains were also expected to put forth a name.
The Rassemblement National will put forward senior MP Sébastien Chenu, but will not win given stiff opposition to the far right. The rightwing Horizons party, once part of Macron’s centrist alliance, will field an MP called Naïma Moutchou.
The new legislature will also soon select the MPs for important committees, such as those overseeing public finances and defence and foreign affairs. Each political group also has to register their members, providing the first complete picture of the power dynamics within the blocs.
For the Rassemblement National, the next few days also have high stakes because the leftists and some other parties have said they want to exclude them from crucial posts, such as the six vice-presidents of the assembly.
Renaud Labaye, secretary of the far-right group, said such a move would make little sense since the party had held two vice-president spots since the 2022 election, when they had 88 MPs. Its contingent has now expanded to 143.
“We won almost 11mn votes, yet some are trying to sideline us,” Labaye said.
Marine Le Pen, leader of the RN, was scornful of what she called the “little partisan games” of her opponents and predicted that an unsatisfactory technocratic government would be formed.
“Macron said he dissolved the National Assembly allegedly to return power to the people, but in reality it’s the technocracy that will take power, when we know that the technocracy will work against the interests of the people,” she told BFM TV on Wednesday.
Additional reporting by Victor Mallet in Paris
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