PARIS: More than a month and a half after parliamentary elections in France, President Emmanuel Macron was continuing consultations on Monday to find a stable government, reported German news agency (dpa).
He received the president of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, on Monday morning.
Macron was also scheduled to speak with Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella from the far-right National Rally party, their ally Éric Ciotti, as well as the president of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, throughout the day.
It is expected that the president will inform the public of the results of the consultations on Monday evening.
However, according to French media, there is likely to be another round of discussions on Tuesday before Macron possibly appoints a new prime minister by Wednesday evening, coinciding with the start of the Paralympic Games in Paris.
In the snap parliamentary election, the left-wing alliance New Popular Front (NFP) landed in first place, ahead of Macron’s centrist forces and the far-right led by Le Pen. No faction received an absolute majority in the National Assembly, making the of a government difficult.
Macron’s centrist faction envisions a sort of grand coalition, but the conservatives have already ruled out participating in such a government.
Moreover, Macron’s team does not want to collaborate with the leftist party France Unbowed and its firebrand founder Jean-Luc Mélenchon, which is part of the left-wing alliance. The alliance, in turn, intends to present a united front.
– BERNAMA, dpa
