French government to survive no confidence vote with far-right backing

France’s minority government is expected to survive a no-confidence vote on Tuesday in a first major test for new conservative Prime Minister Michel Barnier, who is forced to rely on the far right’s goodwill to stay in power.

The no-confidence motion was deposited by a group of 192 lawmakers of the left-wing New Popular Front coalition.

In their motion, the alliance accused France’s new government of denying “the result of the most recent legislative elections.”

Despite securing the most seats in the National Assembly in France’s snap legislative elections, held this summer, the coalition was not given a chance to form a minority government.

The far-right National Rally (RN), which has 125 lawmakers, has said it would abstain from voting on a no-confidence motion for now.

Given that the motion needs 289 votes to pass, it is unlikely it will pass without RN’s support. The group gained 40 seats in the legislative election compared with 2022.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, a member of the National Assembly for the Pas-de-Calais constituency, said she decided to “give a chance” to the government.

Left-wing politician Olivier Faure from the Socialist Party declared “the National Rally has decided to show its support without participating in the government,” in an interview with French public broadcaster France 2.

The vote is an opportunity to show “who is in the opposition and who is not”, he added.

Politicians from within the New Popular Front coalition began filing a no-confidence vote when French President Emmanuel Macron refused to appoint their candidate, Lucie Castets, as prime minister.

Following the July elections, the National Assembly, France’s powerful lower house of parliament, has been divided into three major blocs: the New Popular Front, Macron’s centrist allies, and the far-right National Rally party. None of the groups commands an outright majority.

Frustration further swelled when Macron took 51 days to appoint Barnier — who comes from the conservative Republicans (LR) party — as his new prime minister, placing a politician whose party gained less than 5% of the vote in the elections at the helm of the country.

Barnier’s cabinet is mostly composed of members of his party and centrists from Macron’s alliance, who together account for just over 200 lawmakers.