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March 20 (UPI) -- A vote of no-confidence in French President Emmanuel Macron's government fell nine votes short Monday after he earlier had pushed through legislation to increase the retirement age. That move by Macron, which came without a legislative vote, brought mass protests throughout the country and came amid almost two weeks of strikes protesting the higher age limit.
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In Monday's vote, 278 members of parliament voted in favor of the motion, which was more than what was expected according to CNBC. It required 287 votes to pass. A second no-confidence motion also failed.
Macron would have remained president regardless of the outcome, but if one of the motions did succeed, the pension reform would be shot down, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne would have been forced to resign, and Macron would have been faced with a choice of replacing her or dissolving parliament and holding new elections.
Macron last week implemented a little-used measure in the French Constitution to make the unpopular proposal that raised the retirement age from 62 to 64 into law without a vote of the National Assembly.
The measure also triggered a provision that opened the door for the opposition parties to call for a no-confidence vote.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire argued on Saturday that the reform, while difficult, was needed to keep the country's pension solvent and that lawmakers needed to "face their responsibilities," and expressed confidence that the challenges will fail.
"There will be no majority to bring the government down, but it will be a moment of truth," Le Maire said in an interview with Le Parisian. "Is it a good idea to overthrow the government and cause political disorder over the pensions reforms? The answer is clearly no."
Macron and his Renaissance Party said that according to figures from France's Pensions Advisory Council, the projected pension deficit over the next 10 years would have been $10.73 billion annually through 2032 without the change.
