Over 80 lawmakers have signed a resolution demanding that French President Emmanuel Macron step down, according to French media reports.
The MPs who put their names under the document are from the New Popular Front (Nouveau Front Populaire, or NFP) four-party alliance, 72 of whom are from the France Unbowed (La France Insoumise) party. The other lawmakers are reportedly from the French Green party (LE-EELV) and the Democratic and Republican Left group (Groupe de la Gauche Democrate et Republicaine).
The resolution was prompted by Macron’s rejection of the NFP’s candidacy of Lucie Castets as prime minister, despite the leftist coalition winning the most seats in the parliamentary runoff in July. Macron’s refusal is slammed in the motion as “an unprecedented case” in France's history.
“It is unparalleled in any of the nations of the European Union that entrusts the first party, even a minority, to form their government," the document is quoted as saying.
The NFP alliance won the most seats in July, but none of the major factions – neither Macron’s centrists nor the left- and right-wing opposition – control an absolute majority in the chamber.
La France Insoumise (LFI) moved to initiate Macron’s impeachment on August 31, citing his "serious failings" in his constitutional duties, and called on other political groupings to back it.
"The National Assembly and Senate can and must defend democracy against the president's authoritarian leanings" LFI lawmakers wrote in the draft impeachment resolution.
However, a bid to impeach Macron would need to follow a long and arduous process outlined in article 68 of the constitution, and would eventually require two-thirds of members of the Assembly and Senate combined to approve it.