Emmanuel Macron exploded into a furious rant against two Opposition parties that rallied behind a no-confidence vote in the French President. Despite their political differences, the two main political forces in the French Parliament joined forces in a major coup attempt to kick Mr Macron’s cabinet out of power. However, the wide-range coalition fell short of the 289 votes required to oust Mr Macron’s Government.
Speaking on the set of French TV broadcast France 2, the French President asked: “But what was it that came down to 50 votes?”
France 2’s host Caroline Roux said: “The no-confidence vote.”
Mr Macron took aim at the far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, saying: “I heard the triumphalist statements of Mr Mélenchon: ‘Within 50 votes, we were there’.”
“But who is this ‘we’?” Mr Macron said.
Two major political forces in Parliament rallied behind the no-confidence motion tabled by Jean Luc Mélenchon’s leftist NUPES coalition, with Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally joining forces in an unprecedented move.
A furious Mr Macron slammed the attempted coup, suggesting voters could leave the leftist parties because of its alliance with the far-right.
He said: “Do you think that our compatriots who voted for a socialist or ecologist MPs, they asked them to carry a majority with MPs from the National Rally?
“And they asked him to table a no-confidence vote which was deliberately amended by this baroque coalition of the NUPES.”
READ MORE: Braverman may give Macron support to crack down on migrant crisis