French President Emmanuel Macron has confirmed he will stay on in his role and appoint a new prime minister as soon as possible.
This follows a no-confidence vote unseating Prime Minister Michel Barnier.
A total of 331 lawmakers out of France’s 577-seat National Assembly voted to remove the government in the no-confidence vote, joining together from the far left and far right, notably Marine Le Pen’s National Rally.
The vote forced Barnier to step down after just three months in office, marking the shortest term of any prime minister in modern French history.
Macron said Le Pen’s party had decided to choose “disorder” and that he would no “shoulder other people’s irresponsibility.”
“You have given me a democratic mandate of five years and I’ll carry it out fully until its term,” Macron said in a televised speech on Thursday.
He also promised to appoint a new PM in “coming days”, however whoever is appointed will be facing the same challenges that led to Barnier’s downfall, namely trying to push through the 2025 budget in a divided parliament.
Francois Bayrou, a long-term centrist politician and a close Macron ally and outgoing Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu have both been mentioned as possible candidates for the job.
