PARIS: French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Sunday urged President Emmanuel Macron to hold a referendum on key issues such as immigration, suggesting that giving the French a direct vote might help break the political deadlock.

Last week Macron appointed the centre-right Michel Barnier, a 73-year-old former foreign minister who acted as the European Union’s Brexit negotiator, as prime minister, seeking to move forward after June-July snap elections that resulted in a hung parliament. But analysts say the country is set for a period of instability, with Barnier’s hold on power seen as fragile and dependent on support from Le Pen’s eurosceptic, anti-immigration National Rally (RN), which is the largest single party in the new National Assembly.

The New Popular Front left-wing coalition, which emerged as France’s largest political bloc after the elections, although well short of an overall majority, is also piling pressure on Barnier.

More than 100,000 left-wing demonstrators rallied across France on Saturday to protest against his nomination and denounce Macron’s “power grab”.

The RN “will unreservedly support any approach aimed at giving people the power to decide directly”, Le Pen said, speaking in the northern town of Henin-Beaumont, the far-right’s stronghold. “Emma­n­uel Ma­c­ron himself, in the chaos he has created, has levers to keep our democracy live,” she added.

To prevent the RN from having an absolute majority and forming a government, around 200 candidates stood down ahead of the final round of the snap polls in July to avoid splintering the anti-RN vote, sparking the far-right’s outrage. Le Pen indicated she would watch Barnier’s every move.

“If, in the coming weeks, the French are once again forgotten or mistreated, we will not hesitate to censure the government,” she added.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2024