French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Saturday, September 14, called for fresh elections next year, just months after snap parliamentary elections threw the country into political deadlock.
"It's untenable," the three-time presidential candidate told fellow Rassemblement National (RN, far-right) members. "The great country that is France cannot function this way," said the leader of the largest single party in parliament after elections this summer produced a hung legislature.
President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the Assemblée Nationale in June after the RN trounced his centrist alliance in European elections. The move has plunged the country into a political impasse, but the Constitution prevents him from enacting another dissolution for at least a year from the vote.
"There are 10 months left and I am convinced that at the end of those 10 months there will be new parliamentary elections," Le Pen said. Le Pen is largely expected to run again for president in 2027, when Macron's second and final mandate ends.
The president had hoped to re-assert his relative majority in parliament by calling for the elections in late June and early July, but the plan backfired. A left-wing alliance nabbed the most seats in the Assemblée Nationale, but does not have a working majority. Macron's centrist faction is now the second-largest block. The anti-immigration RN is third, but emerged from the election as the single largest party.
Macron last week appointed conservative Prime Minister Michel Barnier to lead a new government, appearing to be counting on Le Pen's acquiescence to keep him in power. His appointment has sparked outrage from the left.
Barnier, a 73-year-old former foreign minister who recently acted as the European Union's Brexit negotiator, has said he would complete forming a government next week.