Most often at the initiative of La France Insoumise and the National Rally, the texts tabled in the hope of overthrowing Elisabeth Borne and her government rarely attract votes in the ranks of the different camps opposed to the presidential majority.
And thirteen. Elisabeth Borne once again drew article 49.3, Wednesday October 18, to have the 2024 draft budget adopted. This is the thirteenth time that the Prime Minister has used this constitutional weapon which allows a text to be passed without a vote to the National Assembly – where the presidential camp only has a relative majority. But this maneuver proves to be double-edged. Each time it resorts to it, the government exposes itself to motions of censure which could cause its downfall.
This time was no exception. Two motions were tabled: one by the deputies of La France insoumise and the other by those of the National Rally. The two texts must be put to the vote on Friday October 20. To be adopted, they must receive an absolute majority, that is to say the vote of at least 289 of the 577 deputies. A very unlikely scenario. No motion has achieved an absolute majority of votes since the arrival of Elisabeth Borne in Matignon. Only one government has been overthrown by a motion of censure in the history of the Fifth Republic: that of Georges Pompidou in 1962.
Franceinfo isolated the votes from the fifteen motions of censure which were tabled in response to a 49.3, since the start of Emmanuel Macron’s second five-year term. Their examination deputy by deputy reveals the differences in posture between the opponents of the executive. On the left, there is no consensus on the systematic opposition of La France insoumise. On the right, only a minority of deputies allowed themselves to be tempted. The far right, for its part, votes on its motions alone, with the exception of a few rare supporters from other parties.
On the left, varied oppositions
The count of votes per MP shows differences between the rebels, the environmentalists, the communists and the socialists. Within these four groups in the Assembly, there are first of all the parliamentarians who systematically or almost systematically vote for left-wing motions. This contingent is mainly made up of deputies from La France insoumise, including the president of the LFI group, Mathilde Panot (12 votes), and the president of the finance committee, Eric Coquerel (also 12 votes).
Other Nupes deputies do not systematically vote on motions of censure against Elisabeth Borne. This is the case of several communists like André Chassaigne (7), ecologists like Sandrine Rousseau (7) and socialists like Olivier Faure (7). The bottom of the table is essentially occupied by socialist deputies who did not vote for any of the motions tabled by LFI but only those at the initiative of Nupes. This is the case of the socialists Cécile Untermaier (3) and Joel Aviragnet (3). Two left-wing parliamentarians also stand out for having voted on motions of censure tabled by the National Rally. These are the socialist Christian Baptiste and the rebellious Jean-Philippe Nilor.
On the far right, a unison vote
The votes of the National Rally deputies are all almost identical. In the footsteps of Marine Le Pen, the president of their group, the far-right elected officials voted in favor of half of the motions of censure. They systematically support motions tabled by their own group. All also voted in favor of the transpartisan motion from the Libertés, Indépendants, Outre-mer et Territoires (Liot) group tabled in response to the use of 49.3 for the adoption of pension reform.
Support for motions tabled by the left, however, is not systematic. Only four of the eleven motions from the left in response to a 49.3 received the support of the National Rally. “We vote on motions that seem to us to correspond to an important political moment, avoiding trivialization and systematization”, explains RN deputy Jean-Philippe Tanguy. This strategy was used again on September 29 after the use of 49.3 by Elisabeth Borne for the public finance programming bill. The National Rally deputies then preferred not to table their motion themselves but decided to vote for the one brought by the Nupes groups.
On the right, rare acts of violence
Only a minority of deputies from the Les Républicains party have voted for at least one motion of censure since the start of the five-year term. Led by the rebellious Aurélien Pradié, a small group of 19 deputies gave their support to the transpartisan motion tabled by the Liot group last March, in response to the use of 49.3 for pension reform. The initiative was strongly condemned by right-wing party executives. Three deputies: Pierre Cordier, Fabien Di Filippo and Maxime Minot even went so far as to vote for the motion tabled by the RN.
Until now, the Les Républicains party has always been content to brandish motions of censure as a threat, but without ever taking the plunge. This position was reaffirmed in September by the president of the parliamentary group Olivier Marleix. “For us, the motion of censure is the weapon of deterrencehe declared on franceinfo. We’re not trigger-happy about the motion of censure.”
In the rest of the opposition, heterogeneous behavior
The deputies of the small heterogeneous group Libertés, Indépendants, Outre-Mer et Territoires (LIOT) were mostly content to vote in favor of the only motion tabled by their group last March. This is the case of the centrist Charles de Courson or the former member of the Republicans Jean-Luc Warsmann. Only deputies Pierre Morel-à-L’Huissier and Christophe Naegelen did not vote for their group’s motion.
Among the non-registered parliamentarians, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan stands out with an almost systematic vote. The president of the Débout la France party voted in favor of the three motions tabled by the National Rally, that of the Liot group as well as nine of the eleven motions of the left.