In 2017, he blew up the system. Now, can he keep it together? France's Emmanuel Macron had never run for public office before becoming president. And for a while, he seemed exempt from the crude reality of political horse-trading. Yet now, the same Macron who reigned supreme when he smashed the big tent centre-left and centre-right parties eight years ago is running out of road in his second term, with his baffling decision last year to dissolve parliament backfiring miserably and an even stronger opposition ousting the 47-year-old president's second prime minister in under a year on Monday.

Macron had hoped that with Michel Barnier and then François Bayrou, he could stay in his comfort zone with a coalition that runs from traditional conservatives to the centre. But Monday’s vote at the National Assembly wasn’t even close. That vote was triggered to anticipate the bruising austerity budget battle that's still to come, not to mention this Wednesday’s Yellow Vests-inspired day of protest. 

Beyond the choice of Bayrou's successor – now confirmed as outgoing defence minister Sébastien Lecornu – is it about Macron himself, the leader who promised Jupiter-like strength from on high and who now has to make concessions, or a democracy that's no longer so unique on a continent rife with populist pressures and fragmented political forces?

Produced by Theophile Vareille, Elisa Amiri, Juliette Brown.