PARIS (AP) — The influential lower house of France’s parliament, the National Assembly, held its opening session on Thursday to elect a speaker after chaotic early elections summoned by the president Emmanuel Macron resulted in a parliament that could not vote.
The parliamentary elections earlier this month resulted in a split between three major political blocs: the left-wing coalition of the New Popular Front, Macron’s centrist allies and the far-right party National RallyNone of them obtained an absolute majority.
The opening session of the National Assembly will take place after Macron on Tuesday accepted the resignation from the Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and other ministers, but they were asked to handle the matters in an interim capacity until a new government is appointed, while France prepares to host the Olympic Games in Paris at the end of the month.
Politicians from the three main blocs and smaller parties are battling it out for the position of chairman, with each camp looking to make a show of force in the hope that it will influence the future nomination of a prime minister. There are six candidates in the race.
To be elected, a candidate must receive at least half of the votes of the 577 lawmakers in the National Assembly in the first or second round of voting.
If no candidate reaches this threshold, the one who receives the most votes in the third round wins.
Members of the New Popular Front, which won the most seats in the meeting, urged the President to reach out to them to form the new government. However, the main parties, the hard-left France Unbowed, the Socialists, the Greens and the Communists, are still fighting over who to choose as their prime ministerial candidate.
After days of tense discussions, they agreed on Thursday to run jointly for the post of president, choosing André Chassaigne, 74, a key figure in the Communist Party. Chassaigne has been a legislator since 2002 and is known for his deep involvement in parliamentary work.
Unions and left-wing activists held protests across the country on Thursday to “put pressure” on Macron to choose a prime minister from the New Popular Front.
There is no set timeline for when the president must appoint a new prime minister.
