00:00Since no progress has been made in finding a name for France's future Prime Minister,
00:05the left-wing coalition, the NFP, New Popular Front,
00:08that won the most seats in France's legislative election,
00:11has now focused all of its energies in finding a common candidate
00:17for the presidency of the French National Assembly this Wednesday evening.
00:21And this left-wing alliance composed of the hard-left party, the France Unbowed,
00:25socialists, the Greens, and the Communist Party
00:28have come together and finally picked a name,
00:31and that's the name of André Chassé,
00:33and he is the leader of the Communist Party in the National Assembly,
00:36to represent them in Thursday's vote.
00:39And this vote is going to be quite a high-stakes one
00:42that really will determine the balance of powers
00:44between these three main political blocs in the National Assembly.
00:48So you have the NFP, followed by the presidential camp,
00:51and then the far-right national rally.
00:55And the president of the National Assembly is considered
00:57the fourth most important person in the French government,
01:01and he or she will, for example, lead the debates in the chamber.
01:07To be elected, a candidate must get an absolute majority of votes
01:11from the 577 MPs in the French National Assembly
01:15in either the first or second round.
01:18If that's not the case, then a third round is organized
01:21where a candidate to win must obtain a relative majority of votes.
01:26So why is Thursday's vote so important then for France?
01:30Well, it might determine who will be the next prime minister,
01:34and that's because this election will provide the first elements
01:38of what sorts of alliances are currently forming within the National Assembly.
01:43And if the left-wing coalition fails to elect one of theirs
01:47as president of the National Assembly,
01:49then this could give an excuse to President Emmanuel Macron
01:52not to nominate a left-wing minister.
01:56He could claim, for example, that it will not represent the vote
02:00of the French MPs in the National Assembly,
02:03since logically the French president of the National Assembly
02:08as well as the prime minister should come from the same political party.
02:13Sofia Katsenkova reporting from Paris for Euronews.
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