French PM hopes to clinch confidence vote despite Socialist MPs revolt
A vote of confidence in the French government this afternoon, called by Prime Minister Manuel Valls, will reveal the extent of a split among the ruling Socialists in parliament.
Issued on:
Around 40 Socialist MPs are expected to abstain in the vote, although the government should
still win the day.
Valls called the vote in order to win support for his new cabinet, which he formed in late August after evicting three ministers who had openly criticised the direction in which he was taking the government.
While dissident Socialist MPs, as well as the environmentalist EELV (government coalition partners until March) will abstain in the vote of confidence, they will not vote against. A vote of no confidence would almost certainly lead to the dissolution of parliament and new elections in which large numbers of Socialists would lose their seats.
France is mired in an economic, political and social crisis, with public confidence at a worrying low.
A new Ipsos opinion poll released on Monday records that only 13 per cent of those surveyed have confidence in president Hollande, while Prime Minister Manuel Valls has seen his ratings drop to 30 per cent, after five months as Prime Minister.
In a bid to stem record unemployment, Hollande publicly embraced more business-friendly policies in January, thereby alienating many traditional Socialist voters.
However, as yet few concrete reforms favouring the business community have been passed.
The result appears to be more dissatisfaction all round.
http://www.english.rfi.fr/france/20130506-why-francois-hollande-so-unpopular-france
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