French PM Gabriel Attal to resign after Macron's coalition loses to left in snap polls

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced that he would tender his resignation to French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday after his coalition failed to win a majority in the parliament. The results for the second phase of snap elections came as a surprise after the Left-wing alliance called New Popular Front (NFP) emerged as the largest party in the parliament.

Attal made the announcement at a press conference on Sunday, immediately after the results started tilting in favour of the NFP. Keeping the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics in mind, the French premier noted that he will be ready to remain in office if his resignation is rejected, “as long as duty requires,” Le Monde reported.

Être Premier ministre est l'honneur de ma vie.

Le lien que nous avons tissé est ce que j'ai de plus précieux.

Ce soir, la formation politique que j'ai représentée dans cette campagne ne dispose pas d'une majorité.

Fidèle à la tradition républicaine et conformément à mes… pic.twitter.com/DgcbNKoTLE

— Gabriel Attal (@GabrielAttal) July 7, 2024

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“Being prime minister is the honour of my life,” he said. “In keeping with republican tradition, I will tender my resignation to the president of the Republic tomorrow morning,” the French prime minister furthered, adding that his alliance failed to form a majority in the French National Assembly.

‘Start of a new era’: Attal

While announcing his exit, the 35-year-old French politician said that the results reflected a “start of the new era”. “Tonight marks the start of a new era,” Attal said in his speech, stressing that France’s destiny would “more than ever” be played out in Parliament.

Meanwhile, Elysée Palace maintained that Macron will wait until the new Assemblée has been “structured” before “taking the necessary decisions”. This indicates to the prospects of the French leader rejecting Attal’s resignation and asking him to stay in office until the new prime minister is appointed.

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It was Macron who called for snap elections last month, after his alliance’s deplorable performance in the European Union Parliamentary elections.

After the second phase of voting, the NFP won 182 seats in the National Assembly, making it the largest group in the French parliament_, Le Monde_ reported. However, it fell short of reaching the 289 figure to form a government with an absolute majority.

Meanwhile, Macron’s centrist Ensemble alliance made a strong recovery in the second phase of voting and managed to win 163 seats. Despite leading in the first phase of the polls, Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) and its allies won 143 seats, making an abysmal fall in the second phase.

With input from agencies.