The French Left overcame an obstacle and elected the Communist André Chassagne as a candidate for the presidency of the Assembly.

After tough negotiations, amid fears of a break-up and the inability to agree on a name for prime minister, the parties of the French New Popular Front (NFP) have managed to agree on a common candidate for the presidency of the National Assembly. According to French media reports, this is the veteran communist politician André Chassaigne, whose candidacy will be defended this Thursday by the left-wing coalition that emerged as the first parliamentary force in the legislative elections, in a vote scheduled to choose the president of the Chamber.

The 74-year-old deputy of the French Communist Party will face other candidates in the vote, such as the Macronist Yaël Braun-Pivet, with whom he will compete for the fourth hierarchical position in the French State during the legislative opening this Thursday. work. A deputy since 2002, the politician from Puy-de-Dôme will have around 190 votes, ahead of those of the NFP and its allies, the centrist coalition of French President Emmanuel Macron. Chassagne has benefited from the withdrawal of environmentalist candidate Cyrielle Chatelain, according to AFP.

The 577 deputies elect the president of the National Assembly in a secret ballot. It is scheduled to begin this Thursday at 3:00 p.m. An absolute majority (289 votes) is needed in the first two rounds. If no one is elected, a third vote is held, this time seeking a relative majority, meaning the frontrunner wins.

The NFP is made up of the French Socialist Party (PS), France Insoumise (LFI), founded by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, communists and environmentalists. They all came together with a common left-wing program and a call to stop the extreme right, and managed to remain the first force in the National Assembly.

Despite being far from the absolute majority of 289 seats that would guarantee them rule alone, from the night of the election the NFP demanded that Macron – who has the power to appoint the next prime minister – call on them to govern.

However, internally they have not yet been able to agree on a name. They have also publicly accused the government of blocking and imposing a particular will.

In particular, the biggest differences appear to be between the Socialists and the rebels. The latter even withdrew on Monday from talks to agree on a candidate for prime minister and assured that they would not continue until the coalition had a single candidate to preside over the National Assembly.

French environmentalists, one of the forces that make up the New Popular Front coalition, acknowledged this Wednesday that the left is putting on a “show” and that it cannot yet be “up to par” given the depth of the conflict it has to agree on candidates to govern.

“I am angry, I am frustrated, I am fed up, I am tired, because we have been there for six weeks and I am sorry for the spectacle that the French people are being subjected to”, summarized the national secretary of The Ecologist, Marine Tondelier, interviewed on the France 2 channel.

For Tondelier, the joy of unexpectedly defeating the far-right National Rally (RN, its acronym in French) of the favorite Marine Le Pen in the early legislative elections held on June 30 and July 7 has turned into “embarrassment.”

Sandrine Rousseau, a representative of the same bloc on the LFI network, said “please forgive us for the farce we are making right now,” before admitting that the left does not know how to “measure” the hope and mobilization of their voters.

Both have expressed themselves in this way in the context of the deep differences that have torn apart the NFP’s left-wing coalition, which was apparently formed after the dissolution of the National Assembly and the call for legislative elections by French President Macron, following the clear victory of the far right in the European elections in June.

In parallel, Macron accepted the resignation of the government led by Gabriel Attal this Tuesday – although he will remain in office to manage current affairs – but has announced that he will not name a new prime minister until the parties manage to form a solid majority.

From Macronism, which remains the second force despite losing a hundred deputies, there have been indications that the PS will look for compromises outside the NFP, in the context of the performance of Rebellious France and its efforts to prevent its arrival in government.