French President Macron accepts PM Attal’s formal resignation

French President Emmanuel Macron has formally accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.

According to a press release from the Elysee Palace, the French presidential office, Macron has asked Attal to continue running the caretaker government until the appointment of the next government.

The development comes ahead of the Olympics that is due to start in France from next week.

In the recent parliamentary elections in France, the left-wing coalition New Popular Front (NFP) emerged as the largest bloc, but the infighting among the member-parties had meant that they have failed to build consensus and put forward the name of their prime ministerial candidate.

The NFP, a cluster of several parties including from the far-left France Unbowed party to the more moderate Socialists and the Ecologists — won 182 seats in the National Assembly, making it the largest group but well short of the 289 required for an absolute majority.

The bloc, however failed to put up a name for the prime minister’s post. A per custom, the French president appoints a prime minister from the largest group in parliament but there is still no clarity on which party from the NFP it would be.

In a July 16 press release from the Elysee Palace, Macron said, “In order for this period to end as quickly as possible, it is up to the republican forces to work together to build a rally around projects and actions in the service of French women and men.”

In the parliamentary run off elections last week, Macron’s Ensemble (ENS) alliance won 163 seats took second place.

Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) and its allies were relegated to third place with 143 seats.

Attal had immediately after the elections offered to resign but Macron had refused to accept his resignation and asked him to remain as a caretaker until a new cabinet is appointed.

Meanwhile, French lawmakers are set to meet on Thursday to elect the president of the National Assembly, in two votes requiring a majority of the 577-seat body, CNN reported. If the first two votes don’t elect someone, the candidate with the largest support in parliament will be selected in a third vote.

Following their resignation, Attal and his fellow ministers who are lawmakers will be allowed to vote in the election of the National Assembly president, potentially providing key ballots in the divided body, CNN reported.