French Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s minority government has lost a no-confidence vote in parliament, becoming the first administration since 1962 to be so removed and marking the fifth republic’s shortest-lived government.
A total of 331 MPs backed the motion, tabled by the left-wing NFP coalition and unexpectedly supported by Marine Le Pen’s far-right group, surpassing the 288 votes needed to topple the government.
Barnier, a veteran conservative who has served as prime minister for just three months, must now submit his resignation along with his government to President Emmanuel Macron.
Bernier’s quick removal followed snap parliamentary elections this summer, which resulted in a hung parliament. With no party able to secure a majority, the far-right’s vote became crucial to the government’s survival.
President Emmanuel Macron faces the daunting task of appointing a new prime minister with more than two years left in his term.
The proposal was discussed in the National Assembly amidst the obstruction of the austerity budget for the next financial year. Tensions flared earlier this week after Barnier bypassed a parliamentary vote on a social security financing bill.
The vote of no confidence is the first successful attempt to oust the government since Georges Pompidou’s administration fell in 1962 under President Charles de Gaulle.
Barnier’s government also holds the record for the shortest tenure in the Fifth Republic, established in 1958.
Macron returned to Paris from a three-day state visit to Saudi Arabia just ahead of the decisive vote, turning his attention to managing the escalating domestic crisis through international diplomacy.
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