France’s Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced he would turn in his resignation to President Emmanuel Macron on Monday after his party failed to secure a majority in the parliamentary elections.
However, Attal mentioned that if his resignation was not accepted, he was prepared to remain in office “as long as duty demands,” especially with the Paris Olympics set to begin in three weeks.
In a surprising turn of events, an alliance of French left-wing parties was projected on Sunday to become the largest parliamentary bloc, outpacing both the far-right and President Macron’s coalition.
No single group achieved an absolute majority in the election, leaving France in political uncertainty with no clear path to forming a new government just days before a significant NATO summit and three weeks ahead of the Paris Olympics.
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Attal reiterated his intention to offer Macron his resignation on Monday but expressed his readiness to serve “as long as duty demands,” given the upcoming Games.
The New Popular Front (NFP) — a coalition formed last month following Macron’s call for snap elections — united the previously fragmented Socialists, Greens, Communists, and the hard-left France Unbowed under one banner.
Despite this, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) led the race after the June 30 first round of voting, with polls suggesting her party would emerge as the largest in parliament after Sunday’s runoff.
Yet, projections from four major polling agencies on Sunday indicated that no group was on track for an absolute majority, with the left-wing NFP leading both Macron’s centrist Ensemble and Le Pen’s eurosceptic, anti-immigration RN.
