With nine days to go until the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far-right National Front party, said the country was “stuck in a quagmire”, deeply divided after chaotic parliamentary elections left it divided.
France has been on the brink of political paralysis since national parliamentary elections earlier this month led to the splitting of its three main political groups: the left-wing New Popular Front coalition, President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance and Le Pen’s far-right Rally National party.
The New Popular Front won the most seats but fell far short of the majority needed to govern on its own.
The French National Assembly is due to hold the new government’s first session on Thursday (Aurélien Molissard/PA)
President Macron accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and other cabinet ministers on Tuesday but asked him and other government members to handle issues as a caretaker government until a new government is formed.
There is no clear timeline for when Macron must name a new prime minister, and it is not yet clear when he will do so.
“We are in the middle of a quagmire,” Le Pen said on Wednesday, the day before the new parliament convenes.
Le Pen, a three-time presidential candidate and a leading figure in France’s far-right, blamed both Macron and the left for the post-election chaos.
She criticised President Macron for not explaining when he plans to appoint Attal’s successor.
The left-wing coalition was hastily formed to run in the recent national parliamentary elections called by Macron after his centrist League was heavily defeated by Le Pen’s Rally for the National in June’s European Parliament elections.
It was a gamble by Macron to prevent the far-right from seizing power.
The leaders of the four left-wing coalition parties have called on centre-right and other left-wing lawmakers to form a “republican dam” in the National Assembly to prevent Le Pen’s National Rally from taking a leading position in the National Assembly.
They argued in a statement on Wednesday that voters had given them “a crystal clear mandate to firmly oppose the far right and its rise.”
Le Pen has accused the left and Macron of being anti-democratic by denying members of her own party important positions in parliament.
The left-wing coalition is “doing enormous damage to democracy,” she said.
