French Prime Minister to Resign after Left-Wing Coalition Takes Lead

French prime minister Gabriel Attal announced his intention to resign after the country’s legislative elections gave a first-place plurality to the left-wing New Popular Front coalition in the second round of voting on Sunday.

“Faithful to the Republican tradition and in accordance with my principles, tomorrow morning I will submit my resignation to the president of the Republic,” said Attal, a close ally of President Emmanuel Macron and a political centrist.

While no party was able to secure the 289 seats necessary to hold a majority in the country’s National Assembly, the leftist alliance — with a projected range of 180 to 215 seats, according to broadcaster TF1 — was able to deny the right-wing populist National Rally the ability to form a government.