The radical left-wing party La France Insoumise on Saturday called on other parliamentary groups to support its seemingly unlikely attempt to impeach President Emmanuel Macron for what it describes as “serious failures” in fulfilling his constitutional duties.

• The Election Chaos Did Not Affect Macron’s Visit Program to Morocco

• « Brigitte, a Free Woman »: Flashback on Macron’s Love Affair

A dispute has arisen between Macron and La France Insoumise and its allies from the Greens, Socialists, and Communists over his refusal to name their candidate, Lucie Castet, as Prime Minister after the inconclusive parliamentary elections in July.

Although their coalition, the “New Popular Ecological and Social Union” (NUPES), won the most seats, the results did not give any bloc a majority in a National Assembly deeply divided between the left, Macron‘s centrists, and the far-right National Rally.

• Macron shouts in the face of “cowards”.. and Europeans seek a path “without America”

• Macron’s appointment of figures opposed to Morocco in his government warns of renewed tensions 

In their impeachment motion, La France Insoumise deputies wrote that “the National Assembly (lower house) and the Senate can and must defend democracy against the president’s authoritarian tendencies.” Their parliamentary leader, Mathilde Panot, said they had sent the document to other deputies to gather signatures.

Any attempt to impeach Emmanuel Macron under Article 68 of the French Constitution faces significant hurdles, as it requires the approval of two-thirds of the members of both the National Assembly and the Senate combined.

• Macron: France will continue its “rearmament” in 2024

• Macron’s stance on the Gaza war fuels divisions within France

La France Insoumise argues that it is not the president’s role to “engage in political bartering,” referencing Macron‘s efforts since July to find a Prime Minister who has broad support.

However, many constitutional experts believe that the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, adopted in 1958 and written on the assumption that the electoral system would produce a clear majority, is vague about the course of action to take in the event of parliamentary gridlock.

• ‘Macron’s Child’… Will Gabriel Attal

• After the failure of electing a president, Macron sends his special envoy to discuss the end of the political crisis in Lebanon

The French president justified his refusal to name Castet as Prime Minister by saying that it was his duty to ensure “institutional stability.”