France's furious left protest Macron's right-wing prime minister

A furious French left has called for mass protests across more than 130 towns and cities on Saturday, after French President Emmanuel Macron named a right-wing prime minister, despite the left's surprising victory in July's tumultuous elections.

A furious French left has called for mass protests across more than 130 towns and cities on Saturday, after French President Emmanuel Macron named a right-wing prime minister, despite the left's surprising victory in July's tumultuous elections.

The New Popular Front, a left-wing coalition assembled to counter France's rising far right, upset the odds and stunned the nation when it won the most seats in France's National Assembly, as the majority of French voters rejected Macron's pro-business centrist alliance in favor of the political extremes.

France had braced for a victory by the far-right National Rally in the elections until leftist parties formed an unlikely alliance at the last minute, pushing the anti-immigration RN into third place and leaving Macron's centrists in second.

While the leftist bloc failed to secure an absolute majority, the French president ordinarily names a prime minister from the group with the most seats in parliament.

But Macron shunned the left's efforts to oust the establishment, and instead appointed veteran French conservative Michel Barnier, a longstanding member of the right-wing Republicans party, which finished fourth in the elections.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/france-left-protest-macron-right-wing-prime-minister-rcna170031

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