To avoid any unrest, President Emmanuel Macron said he would keep his centrist caretaker government in place until the Olympics are over in mid-August.
He made the announcement in a television interview shortly after his left-wing coalition, which won the most votes in this month’s parliamentary elections, chose little-known civil servant Lucy Castets as its candidate for prime minister.
Macron said the current caretaker government would “deal with current events during the Olympics,” which ends on Aug. 11. “We cannot change the situation until mid-August because we would be afraid of creating chaos,” he said.
There is no clear timeline for when Macron must name a new prime minister after parliamentary elections left France without a major party in the National Assembly for the first time in the modern republic.
Macron has a term until 2027 and has the final say on who is appointed prime minister, but he needs the support of a majority of lawmakers to avoid a vote of no confidence.
A senior civil servant, Castet is a graduate of Sciences Po, the London School of Economics and the Ecole Nationale de l’Administration. He worked for the Directorate General of Finance and Trafin, Bersi’s anti-money laundering unit.
The New Popular Front described her as “a leader in the collective struggle for the defense and promotion of public services and active in the ideological struggle against retirement at 64 years of age.” It also highlighted her efforts to fight tax evasion and financial crimes.
Marine Tondelier, national secretary of the Green party, called on Macron to “recognize the election results and appoint her to Matignon, the short name for the prime minister’s office.”
Far-right National Rally MP Sébastien Chenut criticised Castets’ selection as a “bad joke”.
France is on the brink of political paralysis after national elections earlier this month led to a split between its three major political groups – the New Popular Front, Macron’s centrist League and Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally.
