French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal will lead the president’s parliamentary group Emmanuel Macron‘s centrist Renaissance party in the French National Assembly, broadcaster BFMTV reported Saturday.
In total, 84 of the party’s 98 MPs voted in favor of appointing Attal as party leader, after the party suffered an electoral defeat in the recent parliamentary elections as part of the centrist camp in France.
In a speech of thanks in the Parisien newspaper, Attal promised to “build bridges with the political forces committed to the republic and the success of France, while respecting the party’s values”.
He had previously indicated that he wanted to rethink and reinvent the party.
He was the only candidate for the leadership of the parliamentary group.
Attal offered to resign as prime minister after the election defeat, but Macron asked him to temporarily remain as head of government.
Meanwhile, the three largest political blocs continue to try to form a new government after the elections, with none winning an outright majority.
Macron called on the country’s main parties to form a coalition after a broad left-wing coalition surprisingly won parliamentary elections.
The left-wing, multi-party Neues Volksfront (NFP) came out on top in the election but failed to secure a majority, leaving no clear path to a stable government in France.
The NFP has not yet reached an agreement on a candidate for the position of prime minister.
