President Emmanuel Macron refused the resignation of France’s prime minister, asking him on Monday to remain temporarily as the head of the government after a chaotic election result left the government in limbo.
Voters split the legislature on the left, centre and far right, leaving no faction even close to the majority needed to form a government. The results from Sunday’s vote raised the risk of paralysis for the European Union’s second-largest economy.
Macron gambled that his decision to call an early election would give France a “moment of clarification,” but the outcome showed the opposite, less than three weeks before the start of the Paris Olympics, when the country will be under an international spotlight.
The French stock market fell upon opening before quickly recovering, possibly because markets had feared an outright victory for the far right or the leftist coalition.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal had said he would remain in office if needed but offered his resignation Monday morning. Macron, who named him just seven months ago, immediately asked him to stay on “to ensure the stability of the country.” Macron’s top political allies joined the meeting with Attal at the presidential palace, which ended after about 90 minutes.
On Sunday, Attal made clear that he disagreed with Macron’s decision to call the surprise election.
The results of two rounds of voting left no obvious path to form a government for the leftist coalition that came in first, Macron’s centrist alliance or the far right.
Newly elected and returning lawmakers on Monday gathered at the National Assembly to begin negotiations over a new government in earnest. Macron himself will leave midweek for a NATO summit in Washington.
Talks over who should form a new government and who should lead the foreign, interior and finance ministries among others, are expected to be extremely difficult and lengthy given that political parties negotiating a deal have diametrically opposing policies and contempt for one another.
“We are in a situation that is totally unprecedented,” said Jean-Didier Berger, a newly elected lawmaker from the conservative Republican party.