PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron asked his prime minister on Monday to stay on for now, pending what will be difficult negotiations to form a government after a surprise left-wing surge in an election that delivered a hung parliament.
The leftist New Popular Front (NFP) emerged as the dominant force in Sunday’s election, thwarting Marine Le Pen’s quest to bring the far right to power. With no single group securing a working majority, the outcome heralded a period of volatility before the Paris Olympics and raised uncertainty among investors about who would run the euro zone’s second largest economy.
“It’s not going to be simple, no, it’s not going to be easy, and no, it’s not going to be comfortable,” said Green party leader Marine Tondelier. “It’s going to take a bit of time.”
Possibilities include the left forming a minority government and the cobbling together of an unwieldy coalition of parties with almost no common ground.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, a centrist and ally of Macron, tendered his resignation but it was rejected.
The left won 182 seats, Macron’s centrist alliance 168 and Le Pen’s National Rally and allies 143, Interior Ministry data cited by Le Monde newspaper showed.
Tondelier is one of several potential candidates among NFP figures. She told France Inter radio the next prime minister could be from the hard-left France Unbowed party, the Greens or the Socialists, the three largest parties in the alliance.