PARIS — France’s far right leader Marine Le Pen compared the left-wing New Popular Front alliance to rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington in 2021.
“They have almost factious attitudes as they call for Matignon [the French Prime Minister’s residence] to be taken by force, as far as we understand … it’s their Capitol attack,” Le Pen told reporters on Wednesday as freshly-elected lawmakers from her National Rally party entered the National Assembly.
Le Pen was reacting to comments by Adrien Quatennens, a heavyweight from the far-left France Unbowed movement, the largest group in the left-wing alliance that topped the polls in Sunday’s parliamentary election.
Quatennens isn’t an MP any more but is very close to radical left firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Quatennens on Tuesday called for “a people’s march” to the prime minister’s office building in central Paris, arguing that French President Emmanuel “Macron wants to rob us of victory.” He accused the president of “maneuvering to block” the left-wing alliance from implementing its policies, and urged French people “to make him give in.”
Quatennens’ suggestion triggered a backlash from politicians across the spectrum, including key figures on the moderate left. There were no signs of protesters marching on the PM’s official residence on Wednesday.
Quatennens’ call came with Macron under intense pressure from both the left and the right to nominate a new government after his centrists suffered a major electoral defeat last Sunday in the snap election. The left-wing alliance, who won the most seats in the election but didn’t secure a majority, is claiming the right to pick the next prime minister and form a government.
However, the four parties in the left bloc are not even close to the 289 lawmakers they need for a majority in the National Assembly. Leading voices in Macron’s camp and on its right flank are arguing that a coalition gathering the center and MPs from the conservative Les Républicains party would be better placed to form a coalition.
The choice of France’s future prime minister formally belongs to the country’s president, who is not legally bound by the election’s results.
On Wednesday Manuel Bompard, also from the France Unbowed movement, said that Quatennens was not calling for an insurrection.
Le Pen compared the France Unbowed to election-denial rioters who stormed the Capitol building in Washington to protest against the outcome of elections lost by former U.S. president Donald Trump. Ironically, Le Pen has been a Trump supporter and also initially questioned the result of U.S. elections.
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