French PM Attal to step down over election loss

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said on Sunday he will hand his resignation to President Emmanuel Macron on Monday morning, adding he will carry out his functions as long as required.

Attal made the comments after France's left-wing New Popular Front coalition won the most seats in the second voting round of parliamentary elections, leading pollsters said on Sunday, putting them on track for an unexpected win over the far-right National Rally (RN) party but short of an absolute majority in parliament.

Gabriel Attal hailed that “no extremes,” referring to the far-right party National Rally (RN) and the left-wing alliance New Popular Front (NFP), secured an outright majority to govern the country.

“Tonight, the political formation that I represent in this campaign has no majority, I will submit my resignation to the president tomorrow morning,” Attal said.

The New Popular Front could win 180 to 205 seats in the parliament's lower chamber, the National Assembly, according to the latest projections based on the surveying company Ifop’s estimations.

Macron's snap elections

The centrist alliance, Together for the Republic, backed by President Emmanuel Macron ranked second with 164 to 174 seats, while Marine Le Pen's RN will get 130 to 145 seats.

The National Assembly has a total of 577 seats, and none of these three primary blocs are projected to get an absolute majority of 289 seats.

The first round was held on June 30 where 76 candidates were successfully elected, without needing a second round.

The RN got 29.26 percent of the vote by itself (37 seats), a rate that rises to over 33 percent when combined with its allies.

The NFP got 28.06 percent (32 seats), and the centrist Together finished third with slightly over 20.04 percent (two seats).

Macron dissolved the parliament and announced early elections after the RN swept more than 31 percent of the vote in the European Parliament elections on June 9, defeating his centrist bloc.