A Mandate in Question: Does Macron Still Have the Right to Rule?

The immediate and total rejection of Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s government is raising the most fundamental of political questions: does President Emmanuel Macron still have a mandate to rule? The event is being framed by his opponents as a popular and parliamentary rejection of his entire presidency.
A presidential mandate is not just the result of an election; it is a continuous measure of a leader’s political legitimacy and ability to govern. While Macron was re-elected, the loss of his parliamentary majority shortly after was the first major blow to this mandate.
The collapse of three successive governments is a far more serious challenge. It suggests that the political system and a significant portion of the populace no longer accept his authority to set the nation’s course. The opposition’s charge that his government has “no legitimacy” is a direct challenge to his mandate.
The disastrous cabinet rollout, which reflected a continuation of Macron’s policies, was rejected wholesale. This can be interpreted as the country rejecting Macron himself, not just his choice of Prime Minister. The message is that any government that represents Macron’s vision will be deemed illegitimate.
This leaves the President in a perilous position. He holds the office, but he may have lost the consent of the governed and their representatives. Lecornu’s resignation is the starkest evidence yet that Macron’s mandate is in deep question, a crisis that strikes at the very heart of his right to rule.