As French lawmakers voted to choose the president of the French National Assembly last week, elected officials from the left-wing French parties refused to shake hands with Flavien Termet, deputy of the far-right National Rally (RN) party led by firebrand right-wing leader Marine Le Pen.
Louis Boyard, Éric Coquerel, Clémence Guetté, Hadrien Clouet and Sophia Chikirou – all of them leaders from France’s left-wing parties – avoided the handshakes by dodging the hand.
The video shows François Piquemal of NUPES party engaging in a mock game of rock-paper-scissors as he dodges the handshake extended by Termet. The video of the interaction has gone viral on social media.
In case you wonder how bad the tensions are in the new French parliament…In accordance with tradition, the first session is chaired by the oldest MP, with the youngest MP being his secretary.
22-year-old Flavien Termet from Le Pen’s National Rally is supposed shake hands with… pic.twitter.com/KcxZ81lQXZ
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 21, 2024
He also shared a small fact about the games history in a separate social media post on X.
Thank you. Little story: do you know that the rock paper scissor game would have imported to the United States by Rochambeau, who came with Lafayette to help United States indépendance ?— François Piquemal (@FraPiquemal) July 22, 2024
The incident occurred when the first session of the National Assembly was being chaired. Flavian Termet, the 22-year-old MP from RN, was acting as the secretary in the first session since he was the youngest member as per French tradition while the oldest MP in the house chaired the session.
A former communist party member and Algerian migrant from Marseille Sébastien Delogu even stared threateningly at Termet as he extended his hand.
A botched vote in France’s newly elected parliament on Friday triggered allegations of ballot-stuffing, with politicians from the left and right pointing to possible fraud.
After two and a half hours of voting for the post of the National Assembly’s deputy speakers, the ballot boxes were found to contain 10 envelopes more than the number of eligible voters.
Re-elected speaker Yael Braun-Pivet from President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renaissance party duly declared a re-run, prompting deputies to demand an investigation.
“Shame on those who committed this fraud,” socialist lawmaker Jerome Guedi thundered in the chamber.
Vincent Jeanbrun, a senior figure in the right-wing Les Republicains party, said there was a “suspicion of ballot box-stuffing”.
The claims sparked angry exchanges in the chamber, with centrist deputy Jean-Rene Cazeneuve bemoaning the scenes.
“I’m a bit saddened by the spectacle we’re putting on,” he told journalists.
In the end the six deputy speakers were elected after a new two-round vote.
The far-right National Rally (RN) party of Marine le Pen failed to keep its two outgoing candidates in their positions.
The posts eventually went to Nadege Abomangoli and Clemence Guette of the far-left France Unbowed, returning centre-right Horizons group deputy Naima Moutchou, Macron ally and outgoing industry minister Roland Lescure, as well as centre-right lawmakers Annie Genevard and Xavier Breton.
An inconclusive election early this month left France without any clear path to forming a new government, with seats in the 577-strong lower house divided between three similarly sized blocs.
A broad leftwing alliance called the New Popular Front (NFP), which unexpectedly topped the July 7 run-off but fell well short of an absolute majority, has more than 190 seats in the National Assembly.
That fractious grouping of Socialists, Communists, Greens and the France Unbowed wants to run the government but has yet to agree on a prospective candidate for prime minister.
Macron’s camp has 164 lawmakers and the far-right RN 143.
(with inputs from HuffingtonPost France and AFP)
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