France’s radical left-wing coalition has vowed to impose a 90 percent tax rate on the wealthy following its surprise election victory on Sunday.
In a result that took political commentators by surprise, the New Popular Front emerged as the largest party in the second round of elections that ended in a tie, winning 182 seats ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Ensemble party with 168.
Marine Le Pen’s right-wing populist National Rally party, which won the first round of elections on June 30, fared poorly in the second round, winning only 143 seats.
The NPF appears to be heading for a power struggle with President Macron, who wants to be free to choose the next prime minister himself, amid tensions and uncertainty in a country with a long history of political violence.
The NPF – a coalition formed just before the election that includes the Socialists, Greens, Communists and the radical France Unbreakable party – has not named a candidate for French prime minister and the group’s leaders met on Monday to try to agree on who would be proposed for the post.
Manuel Bompard, coordinator of France Indeclinable, said: “We are preparing to govern, to implement the programme that is ours.”
Manuel Bompard (pictured), coordinator of France Unbreakable, said the coalition was “preparing to govern”
Emmanuel Macron (pictured) believes he can be the architect of a “rainbow” coalition, uniting his MPs with centre-right Republicans and moderate leftists.
The programme includes a 90 per cent tax rate on any annual income above 400,000 euros, a reduction in the retirement age from 64 to 60, a price freeze on essential goods, a 14 per cent increase in the minimum wage and spending commitments of at least 150 billion euros over three years.
Macron’s Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has clashed with the president over the dissolution of parliament and resigned.
However, they were quickly asked to remain in office on an interim basis at least until the Paris Olympics, which open in two weeks.
In a sign of growing tensions between the left and the Elysee Palace, Bompard suggested Macron was trying to defy the will of the people by keeping Attal.
He urged Macron to “respect” the election result, adding: “This is not a contribution by Gabriel Attal as prime minister to erase the vote of the French people.”
Macron’s supporters have a very different view of the election, which they say ended inconclusively.
“Nobody won,” said Gérald Darmanin, French Interior Minister, claiming that both the Rally and the NPF “had lost.”
France now finds itself in a similar situation to Italy and Germany: having to find a coalition government capable of securing a majority in Parliament.
Sylvain Maillard, a deputy from Macron’s group, said the search could take “several weeks”
He said: “The French people have elected a parliament with three blocs of roughly equal size.”
Macron believes he can be the architect of a “rainbow” coalition, uniting his MPs with centre-right Republicans and moderate leftists.
Maillard said all MPs would be welcome, except those belonging to the Rally or France Unbowed, before stressing that the new government would have to focus on living standards and insecurity.