French PM resigns, assumes caretaker role amid political deadlock

France's President Emmanuel Macron has accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal's government, which will now serve only in a caretaker capacity, the presidency has said.

The outgoing premier and his team would "handle day-to-day business until a new government is named", the Elysee Palace said on Tuesday.

"For this period to come to end as quickly as possible, it is up to republican forces to work together to build unity," it added, referring to mainstream political parties but excluding the far right and hard left.

Macron had announced the plan earlier in the day at the government's first cabinet meeting since his allies got roundly beaten earlier this month in a snap parliamentary election he had called to "clarify" the political landscape.

Macron told the ministers he would ask Attal to stay on "for some weeks", probably until after the Paris Olympics, which open on July 26, meeting participants said.

This gives political parties more time to build a governing coalition after the July 7 election runoff left the lower house without an overall majority.

A broad alliance called the New Popular Front (NFP) which includes Socialists, Communists, Greens and the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) won the most seats, with 193 in the 577-strong lower chamber.

Macron's allies came second with 164 seats and the far-right National Rally (RN) third with 143.

The divided NFP alliance has been scrambling to come up with a consensus candidate for prime minister.

But internal conflicts - notably between the LFI and the more moderate Socialists - have thwarted all efforts to find a personality able to survive a confidence vote in parliament.