Over a week after the French presidential election, the future is still uncertain about who will become the country's new prime minister.
Attempts to find a candidate for the position are failing repeatedly. Now, there is open conflict between the two largest parties in the left-wing alliance.
"For the time being, we will not participate in any further discussions about government formation," writes the radical left party Unbowed France in a press release.
The party is the largest in the New Popular Front (NFP) alliance, which also includes the Socialist Party (PS), ecologists, and communists.
The alliance won the most votes in the parliamentary election on July 7, but with 193 of the 577 seats in parliament, NFP is far from having a majority. There is also an open struggle between the parties about who will become the alliance's prime minister candidate and thus the one who will form the government.
Furious
Several names have been mentioned, including Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure and ecologist Marine Tondelier. But all have been rejected by one party or another. On Sunday, the proposal of 73-year-old Huguette Bello, president of the French overseas department of Réunion, was also rejected when the PS said no.
I'm furious about these systematic blockages and vetoes from the Socialist Party, says Manuel Bompard from Unbowed France to the French TV channel BFMTV.
The party will not participate in any further discussions "until the Socialist Party has withdrawn its veto on any candidate other than its own," the party announced.
The government resigns
PS wants a candidate who leans more towards the center-left than Unbowed France and the Communist Party. In an interview with French TV, party leader Olivier Faure is trying to calm criticism about the alliance's difficulties in reaching an agreement:
No one needs to worry, we will handle this, it will take time.
The government is expected to hold its last cabinet meeting on Tuesday before it resigns, according to government sources that Le Figaro has spoken to.
The National Assembly is expected to reopen on Thursday after being closed since President Emmanuel Macron dissolved parliament and called new elections.
