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French Government Prepares for Possible March Snap Elections as Budget Standoff Deepens

The March snap-election scenario is meant to deter censure to break the budget deadlock.

Overview

  • Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu instructed Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez to ready the organization of potential legislative elections on March 15 and 22.
  • The executive has signaled that a successful censure would be followed by dissolving the National Assembly, with the president and prime minister aligned on that course.
  • La France Insoumise and the Rassemblement National have announced censure motions linked to the EUMercosur vote and the farm crisis, set for examination Tuesday and Wednesday, January 13–14.
  • The 2026 budget remains stalled after the Finance Committee rejected the revenue section in new reading, following a special continuity law passed when the year-end deadline was missed.
  • Lecornu is weighing Article 49.3 or ordonnances despite an earlier pledge to the Socialists not to use 49.3, while the government on January 9 unveiled limited ‘agricultural justice’ measures and insisted France will have a budget in January.