The death of actor Alain Delon on Sunday 18 August has probably lessened the resonance of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s latest stunt among French voters still sleepy from their summer holidays. But once again, the founder of the radical left party La France Insoumise (LFI) has shaken the walls of the left and splintered the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) alliance, a fragile edifice hastily constructed in the run-up to the June 30 parliamentary elections.

In an open letter published in the newspaper La Tribune SundayMélenchon and his top representatives accuse President Emmanuel Macron of an “institutional coup” and “abuse of power”. In their “grave warning”, they call on the president to “accept the result of the parliamentary elections” and appoint the NFP candidate, Lucie Castets, as prime minister. Otherwise, the NFP would trigger Article 68 of the Constitution, which allows the president to be removed from office in the event of a “breach of duty”.

LFI’s initiative was prepared in secret and without the NFP allies, who only warned their partners by text message on Saturday that the text would be published the next day.

Realistically, an Article 68 procedure would have no chance of success given the current parliamentary composition. First, a resolution must be passed by a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament. Then a Supreme Court composed of members of both houses has a month to deliver its verdict, again requiring a two-thirds majority. The legal legitimacy of the procedure would also be called into question. “The Head of State is in his constitutional role. In the absence of a majority, he consults the political groups to appoint a prime minister,” the Elysée Palace said, condemning “a din that is hardly compatible with the spirit of the Republic and the letter of the Constitution,” adding that LFI has a “penchant for disorder that is hardly reassuring.”

In addition to the feasibility of the procedure, it is above all the political consequences that the LFI’s allies – Socialists, Greens and Communists – fear five days before a decisive meeting with Macron in the company of Castets. On Sunday, they all distanced themselves from their turbulent partners, aware that such a threat would definitively dampen the NFP’s chances of governing by offering the president a good reason on a silver platter to oppose their candidate for prime minister.

Severe internal earthquake for the socialists

The leader of the Socialist Senators, Patrick Kanner, considered this move an “inappropriate provocation” and an “isolated (action), inappropriate in view of the approach” to meet with Macron. “By launching a Scud that has no powder, they weaken the NFP and Lucie Castets,” he added. From Corsica, where he is on vacation, communist leader Fabien Roussel is not taking the news lightly. “The agenda is not to threaten the President of the Republic with his impeachment. The priority is not to provoke an institutional crisis. The LFI has the right to make the presidential election its priority, but it is not our decision,” he said, questioning the “constitutional validity of the approach.”

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