France just had a shock election. What happened, and what comes next? France just had a shock election. What happened, and what comes next?

Republican Matt Gaetz, a member of the US House of Representatives, submitted a motion to remove House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from office.

Gaetz asked for McCarthy to be removed from his seat with the motion he presented to the House of Representatives in the evening local time. Gaetz, who claimed that McCarthy made a secret deal with US President Joe Biden and Democrats on aid to Ukraine during his speech in the morning, told reporters after the motion, "If the Democrats want to take Kevin McCarthy, they can."

The motion is expected to be put to a vote in the House of Representatives within 48 hours. A simple majority vote (218) is required to remove McCarthy as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The adoption of the motion will depend on the support of Democrats as well as far-right members of McCarthy's own party. If Gaetz's motion passes, McCarthy will be removed as speaker of the House of Representatives, but will remain a representative.

HE WAS HARDLY ELECTED

Gaetz, a member of the far-right faction within the Republican Party, had opposed McCarthy's election as Speaker of the House of Representatives in January.

McCarthy, who had to make some concessions to convince Gaetz and his group, was only elected speaker after 15 votes. Among the concessions McCarthy made to the Republicans who did not support him to become Speaker of the House was that a motion by one representative would be sufficient to vote to remove him from his seat.

Tensions between Gaetz and McCarthy have increased recently. Gaetz argued that McCarthy had made "concessions" to the Democrats, implying that he was not a good leader.

McCarthy, on the other hand, noted that Gaetz was too busy giving television interviews for personal gain rather than doing something for the country.

Editor: Albert Owen