Legislative: Can Macron not appoint Mélenchon Prime Minister in the event of a Nupes victory? – BFM TV

If the Constitution imposes nothing on the President of the Republic, the political reality and the functioning of the Fifth Republic could however put Emmanuel Macron in an uncomfortable position in the event of victory of the left-wing coalition. “Elect me Prime Minister.” Two weeks after his defeat in the first round of the presidential election and just a few minutes after the re-election of Emmanuel Macron, Jean-Luc Mélenchon was already laying the groundwork for his future campaign for the legislative elections. Even before the creation of the unprecedented Nupes, the strong man of rebellious France wanted to surf on the 21.95% of the votes collected on the evening of April 10, a historic result for his party, with a clearly stated objective: to try to obtain an absolute majority in the National Assembly and thus put the newly re-elected President of the Republic in an uncomfortable situation of cohabitation. Referring to his “legitimacy”, the elected representative of Bouches-du-Rhône had even announced that he would not defend his seat as deputy at the Bourbon palace. A way to install a “third round” and hope to take revenge. Since then, this leitmotif of “Elected Prime Minister” has constantly returned in the communication of the Insoumis, to the point of personally causing Emmanuel Macron to react. On Friday, during an interview with several regional press titles, the head of state replied, arguing that “the president chooses the person he appoints prime minister by looking at Parliament” and that “no political party cannot impose a name on the president.” The majority decides What do the texts say about this? According to Article 8 of the French Constitution of October 4, 1958, it is indeed the President of the Republic who “appoints the Prime Minister”. He also has the possibility of ending his functions “on the presentation by the latter of the resignation of the Government”, as Jean Castex recently did before his departure from Matignon. No other condition is imposed on it. Except that article 49 of this same Constitution brings an important nuance. In fact, the political group which has a majority of deputies in the National Assembly has a decisive advantage in the choice of the Prime Minister, since it has the power to set aside the choice of the President of the Republic by refusing to grant him his confidence or by voting for a motion of censure. This must be “signed by at least one tenth of the members of the National Assembly” and voted “forty-eight hours after its deposit”. On this subject, Manuel Bompard, lieutenant of Jean-Luc Mélenchon who succeeds him as candidate in his constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône, recalled the rules of the game this Monday morning on the air of Sud-Radio. “What is a constitutional obligation is that the Prime Minister must then have a vote confidence of the National Assembly and to have it, it is necessary to appoint Prime Minister the person chosen by the political alliance having the political majority in the National Assembly”, he insists. However, he judged, Emmanuel Macron will not “be able to afford the luxury of a form of humiliation because he would decide to choose such a person and that this person ultimately would not have the confidence”. For the time being, according to the various polls including that “Opinion 2022” directed by Elabe for BFMTV, the question does not arise. The projections give the Nupes in a range between 155 to 180 deputies at the Palais Bourbon, below the fateful bar of 289 parliamentarians fixing the absolute majority, therefore. And behind “Together!” gauged between 275 and 315 seats. If such scores are confirmed, the left would therefore not be able to impose a head of government on Emmanuel Macron. However, it can nourish the hope of depriving it of an absolute majority, in order to better influence future debates to come. A risky dissolution Emmanuel Macron would still have one last card to show to avoid institutional blockage: the dissolution of the National Assembly. If necessary, new legislative elections would then be organized and the French again called to the polls. Near Franceinfo, Michel Verpeaux, professor emeritus at the Sorbonne law school, explains why this choice would be extremely dangerous for Emmanuel Macron: “The risk would be to have an even worse result for the President, because the voters would be tired of repeated elections for example.” In the event of cohabitation imposed by a victory of the Nupes, it would seem logical, as shown ‘History of the Fifth Republic, that Emmanuel Macron turns to the majority leader, here Jean-Luc Mélenchon. All the cohabitation executives were taken by their natural leader, from the team of Jacques Chirac in 1986 to the plural left of Lionel Jospin in 1997. The only exception being perhaps the promotion of Édouard Balladur in 1993 but this one It had been selected by Jacques Chirac himself. “It would be a provocation, it would not respect the result of the legislative elections. It would be contrary to all historical traditions”, still alerts Manuel Bompard this Monday morning. “When he [Emmanuel Macron, NDLR] told us: ‘In any case, Jean-Luc Mélenchon cannot be Prime Minister because I will not appoint him’. Well, yes, man, you’re going to name him”, he concludes, sure of the victory of his people. An outing which did not fail to react within the macronists.