(MENAFN) France’s recently reappointed Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu narrowly survived his government’s first no-confidence vote on Thursday, as the motion failed to secure the 289 votes needed to topple the administration.

According to reports, 271 lawmakers supported the no-confidence motion while 18 opposed it, leading the National Assembly to dismiss the challenge brought forward by the far-left France Unbowed (LFI) party.

A separate motion introduced by the far-right National Rally (RN) is now advancing toward a vote but is widely expected to fail as well.

Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure stated that his party, which has also considered submitting its own censure motion, will refrain for now. "As long as Parliament is respected," he said, the government will not be censured.

The center-left’s decision came after Lecornu pledged to delay the implementation of France’s controversial pension reforms until the next presidential election — a key demand from the opposition.

Initially introduced in 2023 under then–Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, the reform plan aims to gradually increase the retirement age from 62 to 64. The measure provoked months of protests and widespread strikes, among the longest in modern French history.

Lecornu, who returned to the premiership last week after briefly resigning amid political upheaval, announced that he intends to present a bill this fall to suspend the reforms until January 2028.

France remains mired in political volatility, with frequent government collapses and persistent budget disputes shaking the administration.

Former Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s center-right government fell in December after losing a confidence vote on the 2025 budget. His successor, Francois Bayrou, encountered similar difficulties when his 2026 draft budget — which proposed eliminating several public holidays to save €43 billion ($50.1 billion) — was rejected by Parliament.

Bayrou’s defeat in a confidence vote this September opened the door for President Emmanuel Macron to appoint then–Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu as prime minister on September 9. However, Lecornu resigned less than a month later, on October 6, before being reinstated by Macron just four days afterward.

Lecornu’s new Cabinet, announced on October 12, immediately faced two no-confidence motions from both the RN and LFI blocs, scheduled for debate on October 16.

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