Macron rejects French left-wing coalition prime minister

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday his government would stay in power until mid-August while France hosts the Olympic Games, rejecting a left-wing coalition’s strategy to appoint a new prime minister.

France’s left-wing New Popular Front coalition, which won a majority of parliamentary seats in this month’s election, proposed financial crime expert Lucie Castet as its candidate for prime minister just an hour before Macron’s TV interview.

When asked about the castellans, which are not known to the general public, Macron said: France 2: “This is not the problem, the name is not the problem. The problem is: What majority can emerge in the (National) Assembly?”

Macron added: “Until mid-August, we are not in a position to change things so as not to create chaos.”

The Paris Olympics, which start next Friday and run until August 11, represent one of France’s biggest logistical and security challenges, with 35 competition venues and 10,500 athletes.

France has been in a parliamentary deadlock since the elections. No party has won a majority of seats in the lower house of parliament, which has ended up divided into three large blocs.

The left-wing coalition tried to propose a name for the prime minister to succeed the outgoing prime minister, Gabriel Attal, but decided not to negotiate with other political forces and does not have enough seats to obtain a majority.

Under the French constitution, the president is the decision-maker, so the left-wing coalition has no way of forcing Macron to step down. Instead, the president has called on political parties to work together to form a broader coalition.