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France’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday (16 September) narrowly won the support of the Assemblée nationale for his new cabinet in a vote that averted a political crisis but could deepen divisions within the ruling Socialist Party.
The government, which needed a simple majority, won the backing of 269 of 577 parliamentarians. In all, 244 voted against, but it was the number of left-wingers who abstained that most clearly laid bare the divisions created by Valls’ attempt to position himself as a reformer opposed to the ‘old left’. Of the 289 members of left-wing parties, 31 abstained.
European Voice (Subscription required)