Macron faces new political landscape as left-wing alliance prevails
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced that he will submit his resignation to French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday. According to exit poll results, the left-wing alliance, the New People's Front, won France's second round of parliamentary elections.
- Today, the political party I represented in this campaign does not have a majority, so tomorrow morning, I will submit my resignation to the president - said Attal, who defended his seat in the National Assembly.
According to exit poll surveys, Macron's camp won 120-150 parliamentary seats, placing them second in the race.
- The politician noted that we have three times more MPs than we estimated at the beginning of this campaign. - He added that thanks to our determination and the strength of our values, extremes cannot direct any absolute majority in parliament.
The President must appoint a new Prime Minister. However, he is not bound by any deadline
After Sunday's second round of French elections, President Emmanuel Macron will appoint a Prime Minister, but he is not bound by any specific deadline. Only one specific date is known: the new parliament will convene on 18 July.
On that day, 577 deputies of the National Assembly will meet for the first plenary session, inaugurating the work of the new parliament and electing the Speaker of the House.
Traditionally, after elections, the head of government submits their resignation to the president, even if their political party wins the elections. It is up to the head of state to decide whether to accept it.
However, this is a tradition and not a legal requirement. As the leading French media reported recently, the current Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, will not be forced to resign immediately after the second round of elections. There is no specific deadline by which his government would have to step down and appoint a new cabinet.
The power to appoint the Prime Minister belongs to the head of state, who nevertheless must consider the configuration of the new parliament and avoid the risk that the appointed government might face a vote of no confidence.
In previous cases, when a different political camp won, French presidents always appointed a Prime Minister from the political party that brought the most deputies to parliament.
Elections in France. All votes have already been counted
The New People's Front won the most seats in the parliamentary elections in France, though it did not secure an absolute majority in the National Assembly. The newspaper Le Monde reported the results of Sunday's elections, citing data from the Ministry of the Interior.
The leftist alliance New People's Front (NFP) won the most seats, 182. President Emmanuel Macron's political camp came in second, with 163 seats. The far-right National Rally came in third, with 143 seats.
This means the New People's Front did not win the 289 seats to secure an absolute majority in the National Assembly.
All votes have already been counted in all districts. The voter turnout was 66.63 percent.
