Barnier voted out in no-confidence motion: Three charts to explain France’s political uncertainty

France political crisis: After France Prime Minister Michel Barnier lost a no-confidence motion in the country’s Assembly, political uncertainty has risen again after Macron’s July snap elections. Here are three charts to explain the situation.

France’s current crisis is the second in only six months when French president Emmanuel Macron called a snap election in July to reiterate his government’s strength. However, the move backfired. Ensemble, the alliance that his party headed, won fewer seats than the previous election. The two other main alliances - left alliance New Popular Front and right alliance National Rally - increased their seat tally, with the NPF winning the most seats.

This resulted in a hung parliament, where no party wins a majority of 289 or more seats in the 577-seat Assembly.

The results cast uncertainty about the country’s political future. Credit rating agency S&P said in a post-election note that it anticipated a “struggle to implement meaningful policy measures” and “a persistent risk of a vote of no-confidence”, according to Reuters. A hung parliament makes it harder to pass legislation, since decisions have to pass through a broader consensus.

Mr. Macron’s immediate concern after the election was the selection of a Prime Ministerial candidate. In the case of no majority party, this process becomes more complicated.

Since no party won a majority, Mr. Macron had to find a candidate who can withstand no-confidence motions in the future by garnering enough support. After negotiations across the board with both left and right parties, Mr. Macron appointed Michel Barnier, a moderate right-wing politician, as Prime Minister with tentative support from National Rally amidst protest from the NFP alliance. It accused Mr. Macron of “stealing” the elections by ignoring the “will of the people.” ‘

However, even within the left alliance, it was difficult to arrive at a consensus candidate. The transition took more than a month, the longest in several decades.

The process begins again, with Macron having to build support a second time from different parties.