The death of actor Alain Delon on Sunday, August 18, probably lessened the resonance of Jean-Luc Mélenchon's latest stunt amid a French electorate still drowsy from summer vacation. But, once again, the founder of radical left party La France Insoumise (LFI) has shaken the walls of the left, splintering the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) alliance, a fragile edifice hastily erected in the run-up to the June 30 legislative elections.

In an open letter published in the newspaper La Tribune dimanche, Mélenchon and his top deputies accuse President Emmanuel Macron of an "institutional coup de force" and "abuse of power." In their "solemn warning," they call on the president to "accept the results of the legislative elections" and appoint the NFP's candidate Lucie Castets as prime minister, failing which LFI would trigger Article 68 of the Constitution, which allows the president to be removed from office in the event of a "dereliction of duty."

LFI's initiative was prepared in secret, without its NFP allies. They only warned their partners by text message on Saturday that the text would be released the following day.

Realistically, and Article 68 procedure would have no chance of success, given the current parliamentary balance. A resolution must first be passed by a two-thirds majority in both chambers of Parliament. Then a high court made up of members from both chambers has one month to give its verdict, again requiring a two-thirds majority. The legal legitimacy of the move would also be questioned. "The head of state is in his constitutional role. In the absence of a majority, he consults the political groups in order to appoint a prime minister," said the Elysée Palace, denouncing "a fuss that is hardly in keeping with the spirit of the Republic and the letter of the Constitution" and adding that LFI has a "taste for disorder that is hardly reassuring."

Beyond the feasibility of the procedure, it is above all the political consequences of the move that LFI's allies – the Socialists, Greens and Communists – fear, five days before a crucial meeting with Macron, in the company of Castets. On Sunday, they all distanced themselves from their turbulent partners, aware that such a threat promises to definitively dampen the NFP's chances of governing, by offering on a silver platter a good reason for the president to push back against their candidate for prime minister.

The head of the Socialist senators, Patrick Kanner, saw this move as an "incongruous provocation" and an "isolated [action], improper in relation to the approach" of meeting with Macron jointly. "By triggering a Scud that has no powder, they are weakening the NFP and Lucie Castets," he added. From Corsica, where he's on vacation, Communist leader Fabien Roussel is not taking the news lying down. "The order of the day is not to threaten the president of the Republic with removing him from office. The priority is not to provoke an institutional crisis. LFI has the right to make the presidential election its priority, but it's not our choice," he said while questioning the "constitutional validity of the approach."

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