Thousands of people have demonstrated across France against President Emmanuel Macron's decision to pick centre-right politician Michel Barnier as prime minister, with leftist parties accusing the president of ignoring election results.
Mr Macron named the 73-year-old Mr Barnier, a conservative and the former Brexit negotiator for the European Union, as prime minister on Thursday, capping a two-month search following his ill-fated decision to call a legislative election that delivered a hung parliament.
"Democracy is not only the art of knowing how to accept victory, but the humility to accept defeat," Jean-Luc Melenchon, head of the far-left France Unbowed party (LFI), told protesters at the start of the march in eastern Paris.
"I call on you [assembled protesters] to undertake a long battle."
The organisers said about 300,000 people demonstrated peacefully across France, including 160,000 in Paris, although police in the capital said 26,000 people had protested in the city.
The interior ministry did not immediately give a figure for the entire country, but its numbers are usually much lower than those given by organisers.
Mr Barnier, meanwhile, made his first official visit as prime minister, meeting staff at a Paris hospital.
The worsening condition of the public health sector has been one of the issues on which people have demanded action after months of procrastination.
"Without carrying out miracles, we can make improvements," Mr Barnier, who lacks a clear majority, told reporters.
He said on Friday he wanted to include conservatives, members of Mr Macron's camp, and some politicians from the left in his future government.
But he faces the daunting task of trying to drive reforms and pass the 2025 budget with the threat of a no-confidence vote hanging over him at the start of October, when he is due to outline his policy objectives to parliament.
Majority believes Macron 'stole' election
France is under pressure from the European Commission, the European Union's executive body, and from bond markets to reduce its deficit.
The left, led by LFI, has accused Mr Macron of denying democracy and stealing the election, after the president refused to pick the candidate of the New Popular Front (NFP) alliance that came top in the July vote, having been formed to deny victory to the far-right National Rally (RN).
Mr Barnier's centre-right Les Républicains party is only the fifth-largest bloc in the National Assembly with less than 50 legislators, and the left believes he will push wholesale spending cuts and a tougher stance on immigration.
"There still is a feeling that our borders are sieves and that migration flows aren't being controlled", Mr Barnier said on Friday.
"I don't have much in common with the ideologies of the National Rally, but I respect it."
Across 130 locations in France on Saturday, people carried banners attacking Mr Macron for betraying them and called on him to be impeached.
"He [Mr Barnier] has no social conscience and will constitute a government which will be in the same line as the previous ones. So that is enough now," civil servant Jeanne Schmitt, 45, said at the Paris march.
Pollster Elabe published a survey on Friday showing that 74 per cent of French people considered Mr Macron had disregarded the results of the elections, with 55 per cent believing he had "stolen" them.
Mr Barnier continued consultations on Saturday as he looked to form a government, a tricky job given he faces a potential no-confidence vote.
The NFP and National Rally together have a majority and could oust the prime minister through a no-confidence vote, should they decide to collaborate.
However, the RN has given its tacit approval for Mr Barnier, having cited a number of conditions for it to not back a no-confidence vote — making it the de facto kingmaker for the new government.
"He is a prime minister under surveillance," RN party leader Jordan Bardella told BFM TV on Saturday.
"Nothing can be done without us."
Reuters/ABC
