09.07.2017 - 16:45 [ Le Monde ]

The politics of no politics

(Juli 2017) The electorate having chosen Marine Le Pen, a far-right candidate loathed by two-thirds of the French people as Macron’s only opponent in the second round, his victory was assured. At this point, all the new president needed to ‘enable him to govern’ was a parliamentary majority — most of them unknowns from the upper echelons of society (no one working-class, 46 business leaders), who owe everything to him. Through a miracle of the voting system, Macron’s neoliberal politics were backed by just 44.02% of voters in the first round of the presidential election (1) but in the French parliament they will be supported by nearly 90% of deputies (2).