French prime minister becomes Macron party parliamentary group leader

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal is to lead the parliamentary group of President Emmanuel Macron‘s centrist Renaissance party in the French National Assembly, BFMTV channel reported on Saturday.

A total of 84 of the party’s 98 lawmakers voted in favour of Attal’s appointment to lead the party after its electoral defeat as part of of France’s centrist camp in the recent parliamentary elections.

Attal promised to “build bridges with the political forces that are committed to the republic and the success of France while respecting the values of the party,” in a message of thanks published in the Parisien newspaper.

He had previously stated that he wanted to rethink and reinvent the party.

He was the only candidate for the leadership of the parliamentary group.

Attal offered to resign from his post as prime minister after the electoral defeat, but Macron asked him to remain temporarily in place as head of the government.

Meanwhile the three largest political blocs continue to try to form a new government after the election in which none achieved an absolute majority.

Macron urged the country’s mainstream parties to form a coalition after the parliamentary elections saw a broad leftist coalition claim a surprise victory.

The left-wing multi-party New Popular Front (NFP) came in first in the elections but failed to win a majority, leaving no clear path to a stable government in France.

The NFP has not yet agreed on a candidate for the post of prime minister.