ANKARA: French President Emmanuel Macron requested Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Monday to continue in his position “for now,“ as the second round of snap parliamentary election results indicate that none of the three major alliances secured enough seats to form a government.
Attal visited the Elysee Presidential Palace to tender his resignation, but instead of accepting it, Macron asked him to stay on as prime minister to “ensure stability in the country,“ Anadolu Agency (AA) reported according to reports citing sources from the Elysee Palace.
The president also expressed gratitude to the premier for his efforts during the election campaign.
“Tonight, the political formation that I represent in this campaign has no majority. I will submit my resignation to the president tomorrow morning,” Attal said on Sunday evening after the initial results were announced.
He noted that “no extremes,“ referring to the far-right party National Rally (RN) and the left-wing alliance New Popular Front (NPF), had won a significant number of seats in the lower house.
The NPF is projected to win over 180 seats in the National Assembly, according to the latest data from the Interior Ministry.
Macron dissolved parliament and called for early elections after the RN won more than 31 per cent of the vote in the European Parliament elections on June 9, defeating his centrist bloc.
