Amid flags and banners, a crowd gathered under a bright sun at midday on the Place de la République in Paris, the mecca of left-wing protests in the French capital, to demand the appointment of a government of the New Popular Front (NFP), the progressive alliance who prevailed as the first parliamentary force in the last parliamentary elections.
The demonstration responds to the call of several organizations, including unions such as the CGT and groups such as Attac or the Human Rights League, which called for mobilizations in the French capital and the rest of the country on Thursday – around 50, according to some local media – to maintain the “popular pressure” for a progressive leadership to emerge. Several NFP delegates are present at the protest in Paris.
The mobilizations coincide with the composition of the new National Assembly that emerged from the elections of June 30 and July 7. The first challenge for the parties will be to elect a president and the government. The different groups have proposed six candidates for the presidency The one who currently has the most support is the experienced deputy André Chassaignejoint candidate of the New Popular Front (NFP), formed France Insoumise, the Socialist Party, the environmentalists and the communists. Voting starts at 15:00.
Leaders of the left-wing coalition have accused President Emmanuel Macron of sowing “chaos” on the political scene by trying to prevent the appointment of a prime minister from the left, the bloc with the most deputies in the recent elections, following statements by ministers after the election at the last government meeting in which they indicated that the president was pointing to a hypothetical coalition of his centrist-liberal bloc with the conservatives of the Los Republicanos (LR) party.
The organizers of last Thursday's mobilization have spoken along the same lines. “After the dissolution of the National Assembly, civil society mobilized to prevent the far right from coming to power. He welcomed with great relief the withdrawal of the republicans that he expected and the success, albeit relative, of the democratic forces. Since then, the President of the Republic has repeatedly questioned the victory of the New Popular Front, which won the early parliamentary elections,” the organization's statement said. “Contrary to democratic practice, the country has expressed the desire to impose a coalition in which the former majority would be the linchpin, and has refused to consider the formation of a government in accordance with the choice of the electorate.”
The French President, they add in the text, “is obliged to respect the results of the polls.” “We, trade unions, associations and groups, who have decided to participate actively in the institutional and social destiny of the country, as was always the case before Emmanuel Macron's open contempt for intermediary bodies, note that there is once again resistance to respecting the rules. ”
The organizers claim that the elections “marked the rejection of the neoliberal policies brutally implemented by Emmanuel Macron in favor of the richest and the bosses of big companies, at the expense of workers,” measures “that are fueling” the far right.
“The application of social, ecological, feminist and anti-racist policies is the only way out of this political and institutional crisis. By allocating a greater number of delegates to the groups of the New Popular Front, the polls have expressed the desire of citizens to apply measures that break with unjust and unequal policies,” they add.
While The families of the New Popular Front still disagree Regarding the candidacy they intend to present for the position of Prime Minister, the organizations also appeal to progressive forces, whom they ask to “remain united to support and embody this alternative.” “After a historic mobilization in which the social movement has fully played its role, they must not fail and propose a government that applies emergency measures,” among which they mention the wage increase, the withdrawal of the unpopular pension reform, the withdrawal of the immigration law or the approval of a framework law on sexist violence.