France’s voters have rejected Macron. Why is he still trying to dictate who governs us? | Rokhaya Diallo

The president’s refusal to appoint a new PM from the left displays breathtaking arrogance – and undermines our democracy

After the electoral turbulence of June and July, few in France imagined that we would be heading into September without a new prime minister appointed to reflect the results of last month’s parliamentary elections.

When Emmanuel Macron unexpectedly called snap elections in June, the prevailing wisdom was that the far right would win. Many of us even suspected that Macron favoured such an outcome so that Marine Le Pen would be tainted by her party’s exercise of power and therefore less likely to win the presidency in 2027. Whether that was his plan or not, calling the vote was a dangerous gamble that took an unexpected turn, putting an ad hoc leftwing coalition in first place with the largest number of votes, but without the numbers to build a working majority in parliament.

Rokhaya Diallo is a Guardian Europe columnist

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