French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announces resignation

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced his resignation after the left-wing alliance secured a surprise victory in the French parliamentary elections on Sunday and his centrist camp failed to win a majority.

Attal, who belongs to President Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance party, said after the first projections were published on Sunday evening that the Ensemble (Together) alliance led by Renaissance had no majority to govern and he would be submitting his resignation to Macron on Monday morning.

Attal's governing camp is likely to slip from 245 seats to between 150 and 180 of the 577 seats in the lower house of parliament, or National Assembly, making it the second largest force behind the NFP, which is projected to have between 172 and 215 seats.

Macron can ask Attal and the government to remain in office on a temporary basis until a majority for a new government is in place.

In view of the Olympic Games, which are due to begin in Paris on July 26, it is also possible that Attal's government will remain in office for a few more weeks.

Macron appointed Attal as prime minister in January. At the age of 34, he became the youngest prime minister in recent French history.

Attal was considered quite popular and had a reputation for being able to discuss issues with representatives of other political camps.

Nevertheless, he was unable to free the French government from its problems in parliament. Attal also led the campaign for the parliamentary elections.

Macron had set himself the goal of achieving a clear majority for his centrist forces in the National Assembly with the snap parliamentary election, but his gamble failed. Nevertheless, his camp did better than expected after it came third in the first round a week ago.