French Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government lost confidence vote in French National Assembly

Paris: According to a report by Al Jazeera on Wednesday, the French National Assembly’s vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Michel Barnier‘s cabinet has exacerbated the country’s political crisis and raised questions regarding the country’s budget for the next year.

According to Al Jazeera, the French parliament’s lower chamber, which has 577 seats, saw 331 lawmakers vote earlier today to overthrow Barnier’s centrist minority administration, plunging the nation into political turmoil as its fiscal deficit continues to rise.

Al Jazeera claims that when Barnier used his special powers to ram through budget changes without parliamentary permission, the far-left and far-right opposition parties called for the vote.

A no-confidence vote overthrew Barnier’s administration, making it the first in over 60 years. He is anticipated to resign together with his cabinet and submit his resignation to French President Emmanuel Macron.

The far-right National Rally (RN) party and the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition joined forces to overthrow Barnier during the no-confidence vote, making him the prime minister with the shortest tenure in the history of the French Fifth Republic, according to Euronews.

According to Euronews, Barnier was only prime minister for 91 days at the age of 73, and his administration, which included both right-wing and centrist ministers, was only in power for 74 days.

After using Article 49.3 of the French constitution to pass a social security budget measure without a legislative vote, Barnier’s administration was the focus of two no-confidence motions, according to Euronews. The budget bill for social security has finally been turned down.

The coalition was informal and lacked an absolute majority, but Barnier headed a precarious minority administration made up of the right-wing Les Republicains (LR) and President Macron’s centrist party. The RN had a major impact on politics thanks to its 124 members in the National Assembly.

According to Euronews, any new administration would have to include a number of parties since Macron is not allowed to call new parliamentary elections until July of next year under the present constitution.