Macron rules out left-wing prime minister as crisis continues

French President Emmanuel Macron has said he will not accept a government led by the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance, which won the most seats in last month’s parliamentary elections.

Mr Macron said France needed institutional stability and that the left could not win a confidence vote in parliament.

The PFN, which presented relatively unknown civil servant Lucie Castets as a candidate for prime ministerIn response, they called for street protests and the impeachment of Mr Macron.

Mr Macron – whose centrists were beaten to second place in July – said he would begin fresh consultations with party leaders on Tuesday and urged the left to cooperate with other political forces.

No group managed to secure a majority in the election, with the NFP winning more than 190 seats, Mr Macron’s centrist Ensemble alliance 160 and the far-right National Rally (RN) 140.

An interim government has since led France, notably during the Paris Olympics, to the anger of the NFP.

Mr Macron has been leading negotiations on a new government since the election and has said he will continue to do so.

“My responsibility is that the country is neither blocked nor weakened,” he said in a statement on Monday.

“The Socialist Party, the Greens and the Communists have not yet proposed modalities of cooperation with other political forces. It is now up to them to do so,” he added.

But he clearly forgot to mention one of the main elements that make up the NFP, the far-left movement La France Insoumise (LFI).

The LFI reacted angrily to the president’s comments, with national coordinator Manuel Bompard calling them an “unacceptable anti-democratic coup.”

Communism leader Fabien Roussel said on BFM TV that Mr Macron would trigger a “serious crisis in our country”, while Green leader Marine Tondelier said on X that three-quarters of French people wanted a “political break with Macronism”.

The left-wing coalition has so far refused to take part in future consultations unless Ms Castets’ candidacy for prime minister is raised.

However, the 37-year-old economist was not elected and was considered an unlikely presidential choice.

Both Ensemble and RN have promised to vote against the NFP candidates.

After meeting Mr Macron on Monday, RN leaders Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella described the NFP as a “danger” to France.

Other names being mentioned in political circles include former Socialist Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and Xavier Bertrand, regional leader of the centre-right Republicans.