France Seeks Govt Amid Parliamentary Limbo, PM Attal Vows To 'Guard Against Any Govt With RN, LFI Leaders'

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal blamed Macron's decision to dissolve the parliament and conduct an election as the reason behind France's political mess.

File photo of France's parliament.

Source : iStock

The political parties of France scrambled on Friday aiming to break a parliamentary deadlock, which was brought on after an inconclusive snap election. This came as the outgoing prime minister vowed to prevent any government with far-right or hard-left members, news agency AFP reported.

In the runoff on Sunday, the alliance of Socialists, Communists, Greens and the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) won 193 seats, bagging the most seats in the 577-seat lower chamber, while the National Assembly was left without any overall majority.

Voters from various camps joined forces to shut the far-right National Rally (RN) out of power in a "republican front" in the second round.  As a result, President Emmanuel Macron's followers secured second place with 164 seats, while the far right won 143, finishing third, the report said.

Amid the prevailing situation with each of the three blocs possessing one-third of the chamber, even the political leaders are agreeing that it might take a long time to find a government that could survive a no-confidence vote.

Macron has turned down LFI's request to form the next government, which would exclude both LFI, the largest force in the left alliance New Popular Front (NFP) and the the far-right RN in any new coalition.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal stated on Friday saying that he would seek "to guard against any government" that included ministers from either RN or LFI.

'Completely Revise Our Methods And Our Organisation': PM Attal

Attal stated in a document, outlining his bid to take the leadership of the "Renaissance" parliamentary group, a Macron-alliance, that it had "narrowly escaped extinction" in the vote.

He said he would "completely revise our methods and our organisation" as party group leader.

The only candidate to take over the Renaissance's leadership in the Parliament, Attal said he hoped to "contribute to the emergence of a majority concerning projects and ideas" in the future parliament, AFP reported.

On Saturday, Renaissance deputies are slated to elect their new leader and if voted in, Attal stated that he would rename the formation "Together for the Republic".

The document, accessed by AFP, did not make any mention of Macron.

The report stated that Attal is distancing himself from his former mentor and blaming Macron's decision to dissolve parliament and demanding the election, for the political mess.

Macron, who has only three years remaining out of his second presidential tenure, will be apoointing the next PM under the French constitution.

It is imperative that the nominee crosses the first hurdle of attaining a confidence vote in the National Assembly, for which he must be able to garner enough support. 

Meanwhile, there is a good chance that the current government might stay until after the Paris Olympic Games, which begin on July 26, AFP reported citing political observers.