PARIS — The Assembly The National Party, the lower house of the French parliament, on Thursday kept a centrist member of President Emmanuel Macron’s party as its leader.
Yaël Braun-Pivet, 53, has been the head of the Assembly since 2022 and retained the post on Thursday after three rounds of voting in the chamber.
Braun-Pivet had the backing of Macron’s centrist allies and some conservative lawmakers who did not want the job to go to her rival.
Parliamentary elections earlier this month saw a split between three major political blocs: the left-wing New Popular Front coalition, Macron’s centrist allies and the National Rally party. None of them won an absolute majority.
Resignation of the Prime Minister
The inaugural session of the National Assembly comes after Macron on Tuesday accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and other ministers, but asked them to take care of business in an interim capacity until a new government is appointed, while France is preparing to host the Paris Olympic Games at the end of the month.
Politicians from the three main blocs and smaller parties were vying for the post of president, each attempting to make a show of strength in the hope of influencing the future appointment of a prime minister. There were six candidates in the running.
To be elected, a candidate must receive at least half of the votes of the 577 legislators in the National Assembly in the first or second round of voting.
If no candidate passes that threshold, the one with the most votes wins in the third round.
Members of the New Popular Front, which won the largest number of seats in the assembly, urged the president to call on them to form the new government.
There is no firm deadline yet for the president to appoint a new prime minister.
Source: With AP information