France in limbo after Macron gamble fails to break political deadlock

People gather in front of "Le Monument a la Republique" statue during an election night rally following the first results of the second round of France's legislative election at Republique Square in Paris on July 7, 2024

France on Monday was faced with a difficult battle to form a new government after parliamentary elections, called by President Emmanuel Macron to reshape the political landscape, failed to open a clear path towards a majority.

Leaders from the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) — which came top in the vote, beating both Macron's centrists and Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) — scrambled to promise they would name a candidate for prime minister this week.

Many were overjoyed by the outcome, cheering crowds gathered in eastern Paris to celebrate Le Pen's defeat, but none of the main groups commands an overall majority, leaving this highly-centralised world power in limbo three weeks before Paris hosts the Olympics.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal is due to submit his resignation to Macron on Monday but has also made it clear that he is ready to stay on in a caretaker capacity as weeks of political and financial uncertainty loom. The Paris stock exchange opened 0.49 percent down.

"Is this the biggest crisis of the Fifth Republic?" asked Gael Sliman, president of the Odoxa polling group, referring to the period after 1958. "Emmanuel Macron wanted clarification with the dissolution, now we are in total uncertainty. A very thick fog."

Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure said the NFP's parties would choose a candidate to replace Attal, "either by consensus or a vote", this week, but the choice will be difficult.

The biggest NFP component is the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) of firebrand Jean-Luc...