Macron retains France's prime minister to ensure the country's stability

President Emmanual Macron of France rejected the prime minister's resignation on Monday, requesting that he continue in his capacity as head of state in the interim while the cabinet was left in disarray following the tumultuous election results.

Following the legislative elections in France, the National Assembly is now split into three separate blocs, creating a hung parliament. With 182 seats, the communist alliance known as the New Popular Front emerged victorious, but it is not in a majority. The makeup of the upcoming administration is unclear, despite Macron's request that Prime Minister Gabriel Attal stay in his position "for the time being."

To much surprise, the New Popular Front (NFP), a broad coalition comprising Socialists, Greens, and Communists as well as the hard-left France Unbowed party, emerged victorious in the country's second round of parliamentary elections on Sunday, July 7.

Despite holding the majority in the National Assembly, the NFP is still not the dominant political force. The lower house of the Assembly is currently split into three distinct blocs, with the leftist alliance holding 182 seats, President Macron's centrists holding 168 seats, and the far-right National Rally (Rassemblement National, or RN) holding 143 seats.