PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron to accept the resignation of the French government, but ask Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to head up a caretaker administration for now, cabinet sources said.
French politics have been in gridlock since an inconclusive snap election earlier this month, with parties in the National Assembly scrambling to put together a governing coalition and no successor to Attal in sight.
Macron made the announcement on Tuesday at the first cabinet meeting since his allies got roundly beaten in the snap parliamentary election he called to "clarify" the political landscape.
Macron told the ministers that he would accept Attal's resignation "at the end of the day", but ask him to stay on "for some weeks", probably until after the Paris Olympics, which open on July 26.
This gives political parties more time to build a governing coalition after the July 7 election runoff left the lower house without an overall majority.
A broad alliance called the New Popular Front (NFP) which includes Socialists, Communists, Greens and the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) won the most seats, with 193 in the 577-strong lower chamber. Macron's allies came second with 164 seats and the far-right National Rally (RN) third with 143.
The divided NFP alliance has been scrambling to come up with a consensus candidate for prime minister.
But internal conflicts have thwarted all efforts to find a personality able to survive a confidence vote in parliament.
On Saturday, Attal was voted in as leader of his party's National Assembly contingent, as he eyes his own future outside government, saying he would "contribute to the emergence of a majority concerning projects and ideas".
Macron told the Tuesday's cabinet meeting that it was the "responsibility" of his allies to come up with a proposal "for a majority coalition or a wide-ranging legislative pact". This, he said, would help preserve his government's "economic achievements" and favour "social justice".
Following their resignation, Attal and other cabinet members will be able to take their seats in parliament and participate in any coalition building. — AFP
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