French Elections: Macron Asks PM Attal To Stay As Impasse Over Govt Formation Continues

Attal had announced that he would resign on Sunday night, but left open the possibility of remaining in the job as long as duty required him to do so.

French President Emmanuel Macron has asked Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to stay in office.

Source : X/@EmmanuelMacron

French President Emmanuel Macron has asked Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to retain post "for the time being to ensure the country's stability" after election results gave no clear majority to any of the three camps. Attal, who led Macron's Ensemble in the election campaign, had handed his resignation to the President on Monday. 

While Ensemble lost many seats in the Sunday parliament election, it finished second, behind a left-wing alliance but ahead of the far-right which had been expected to win. 

The unexpected result has led French politics into a deadlock with no party being able to form a government on its own. 

Left-wing alliance, the New Popular Front which was cobbled after Macron called the elections, argued that it has earned the right to choose prime minister as the leading group in the next National Assembly. 

A meeting was due on Monday to consider who to propose for the job, but there is no obvious candidate who would satisfy the radical France Unbowed (LFI) party as well as the more moderate Socialists, Greens and Communists.

Attal had announced that he would resign on Sunday night, but left open the possibility of remaining in the job as long as duty required him to do so, reported BBC. 

It had been expected that his resignation would be rejected when he visited the Élysée Palace on Monday morning, the report added. 

It was not clear how long Macron wanted Attal to continue in office but made it clear that France now needed a period of calm. The political turmoil in the country comes just as it is about to host the Paris Summer Olympics 2024 on July 26. 

Macron is also due to fly to the US on Tuesday for a NATO summit.