Inability To Decide On Snr. Parl't Positions Shows Lack Of Stability

Following on from the somewhat unexpected relection of centrist National Assembly President Yael Braun-Pivet on the evening of 18 July, leaders of the 11 political groups within parliament have proved unable to find agreement on appointing the positions of National Assembly vice-presidents, quaestors, and secretaries.

• As such, depities have been called in to vote on the appointments from 1500CET (0900ET, 1400BST).
• The votes come following the declarations of the political groups whether they will sit in opposition or not. Eight of the groups have declared themselves in opposition. These are the four parties of the leftist New Popular Front (NFP) alliance, the right-wing nationalist Rassemblement National (RN), the conservative Republican Right (Les Republicains), the RN-aligned 'A Droite' of Eric Ciotti, and the regionalist Liberties, Independents, Overseas and Territories (LIOT) group.
• The three main groups of the pro-Macron centre - Ensemble pour La Republique (formerly Renaissance), Democratic Movement (MoDem) and Horizons - have not declared themselves as sitting in opposition. This group carries only 166 deputies in the 577-member chamber, well short of a majority.
• Macron could argue that as his bloc is the only one not to declare itself in opposition, and therefore it would be correct for him to appoint a PM from within this group. However, this would risk a political backlash given the NFP won the most seats in the election, with the prospect of no confidence votes collapsing any such gov't.