France saved its republic from the shame of joining the European countries led by the far right, but it is now deeply divided, and its Parliament without a clear leadership. The near future is still uncertain.
By Melissa Chemam
The first feeling was relief… For most of us, French democrats, for the dual nationals, and for the millions of expats living here.
Voting in Marseille in the morning yesterday, Gaëlle, 38 years old, told me it was important for her to vote because she is “not in agreement with the values of the National Rally”.
“I wanted to express my political voice as a left-wing person, who wants a mixed France, proud of all the people who live here and who participate in life in society. A tolerant and loving France.”
For those living in Marseille, one of the most multicultural cities in France, considered as the “gateway to the global south” by many, including some directors of its leading cultural institution, it’s not a surprising stance.
But Marseille, unlike Paris, wakes up on Monday (8 July 2024) as a deeply divided city; its western districts now represented by the left; a surge of the far right on the eastern, richer parts.
The New Popular Front surprisingly came out first on Sunday night’s results, after two weeks of tense campaigning, and constant obsession about the far right on 24-hour news channels.
But the group are in a difficult position now, as President Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly said he would not want to work with them to form a government.
“We have to completely change our method, and the left must present within the week a candidacy for the post of Prime Minister after the second round of the legislative elections,” the first secretary of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, said on FranceInfo on Monday morning, 8 July.
Macron’s current Prime Minister and special protégé, Gabriel Attal, announced on Sunday evening that he would submit his resignation to Emmanuel Macron on Monday morning, but added that he would be keen to stay “as long as duty requires”.
The presidential palace announced a few minutes later that Macron would wait to know the exact "structuring" of the new Assembly before choosing the people invited to join the government.
Politicians like François Bayrou, a centrist who heads a party allied to Macron, has floated the idea of an alliance excluding what he keeps calling “the extreme left” and extreme right, gathering together a “democratic and republican” grouping which would govern together.
But for Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of left-wing party France Insoumise (LFI, or Unsubmissive France), Macron "has the duty to call on the New Popular Front to govern”.
With this type of deadlock, and the rise of the far right - the RN being now the third political force in parliament - an unseen situation in France, many have reasons to keep on worrying, especially foreigners living in France and French people living abroad, with family spread over two countries if not continents.
"I spent the evening on the phone with the family,” my French Tunisian friend Nadia wrote to me. “What a relief indeed. I find that we feel it in the atmosphere of the city too…” she said of Marseille.
In Bruxelles, Sandra, a friend of mine who is French Greek and moved to Belgium twenty years ago, even joked that she will probably agree to come back and visit us again in France…
From New York, Farah, another French Tunisian friend of mine, who campaigned for two weeks for the New Popular Front, said she cried of relief.
In Paris, where the left is quite high, most of my British and American friends who have been living in France now want to get their French nationality as soon as possible, a right they have now that they have lived here for decades, having children born in France and French spouses.
What is sure is that France probably has another year of turmoil in front of her. The French Republic’s constitution is heavily tilted in favour of the executive, giving more power to its President and Prime Minister. To rebalance the system in favour of such a hung parliament will demand a lot of flexibility and creativity from MPs and members of a potential coalition government.
It could be a blessing, teaching the French how to live and run a country through compromises and tolerance, and stop relying on the providential strong male leader. But the road to that goal might not be the straightest line…
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