The Single Party French State ... as the Majority of Voters Abstain

http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/06/21/the-single-party-french-state-as-the-majority-of-voters-abstain/
Date Written:  2017-06-21
Publisher:  Counterpunch
Year Published:  2017
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX21111

The victory of Macron's personal party, la République En Marche (REM), with an absolute majority of 350 out of 577 seats in the National Assembly, has bled the two traditional governing parties, the Republicans and the Socialists.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

The result is that by cannibalizing the two discredited government parties, and adding a large contingent of political amateurs (described as representatives of "civil society"), Macron and his madtomadnessteam have succeeded in creating a new form of single party state. The new majority of deputies in the National Assembly are not there to represent ideas, or a program, or local constituencies, but simply to represent… Emmanuel Macron. From the looks of it, he can do whatever he wants, and the parliament will approve.

Macron's victory was both overwhelming and underwhelming. All records of abstention were broken; for the first time in over a century, a majority of eligible voters stayed away from the polls in the first round of the parliamentary elections, and abstention rose to 57% in the second round. He owes his landslide to less than 20% of registered voters.