France faces hung parliament after a surprise left-wing surge

France is facing a hung parliament and the prospect of taxing negotiations starting on Monday to form a government, after a surprise left-wing surge blocked Marine Le Pen's quest to bring the far right to power.

The leftist New Popular Front (NFP) emerged as the dominant force in the National Assembly after Sunday's election but, with no single group securing a working majority, the possibilities include the NFP forming a minority government or the building of a broad, unwieldy coalition.

The result delivers a stinging blow to President Emmanuel Macron and leaves the eurozone's second-largest economy in limbo, heralding a period of political instability just weeks before Paris hosts the Olympic Games.

Mr Macron ended up with a hugely fragmented parliament that is set to weaken France's role in the European Union and further afield and make it hard for anyone to push through a domestic agenda.

Several protests broke out in response to the partial results of the elections.

The protests became quite intense, with flares lit and some demonstrators using umbrellas to shield themselves from tear gas.

Far-right party hit with unexpected third spot

Interior ministry data cited by Le Monde newspaper shows the left winning 182 seats, Mr Macron's centrist alliance on 168 and Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) and allies, 143 seats.

For Marine Le Pen's RN, the result was a far cry from weeks during which opinion polls consistently projected it would win comfortably.

However, Ms Le Pen, who will likely be the party's candidate for the 2027 presidential election, said that Sunday's ballot, in which the RN made major gains compared with previous elections, had sown the seeds for the future.

"Our victory has been merely delayed," she said.

The left and centrist alliances cooperated after the first round of voting last week by pulling scores of candidates from three-way races to build a unified anti-RN vote.

In his first reaction, RN leader Jordan Bardella called the cooperation between anti-RN forces a "disgraceful alliance" that he said would paralyse France.

France has a two-house system of government in which the president and the parliament share power. The president is elected by popular vote and appoints the prime minister, as well as the cabinet ministers.

The government must secure the support of the majority of MPs in the National Assembly to stay in power.

Mr Macron had been facing difficulties passing legislation within the National Assembly after failing to secure an absolute majority in June 2022.

In the country's European Parliament vote on June 6-9, the far-right RN gained more than 30 per cent of the vote, or about twice as much as Mr Macron's party.

The far-right party led by Ms Le Pen received 33 per cent of the popular vote in the first round of parliamentary elections last weekend — a result that put France the closest it had been to having a far-right government since World War II.

PM announces resignation

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Sunday said he would tender his resignation, but it was not clear whether the president would accept it immediately, given the daunting task ahead to form a government.

Mr Attal said he would be willing to stay on in a caretaker role.

"I will of course do my duties as long as it's needed — it cannot be otherwise on the eve of a date [the Olympics] that is so important for our country," Mr Attal said as it became clear Mr Macron's alliance had endured a humbling setback.

Who replaces Attal?

There is currently no definitive answer on who will emerge as the next prime minister of France.

Unlike the president, who serves as the head of state and is directly elected by the public, the PM comes to office through an appointment.

This means Mr Macron decides which party to ask to form the new government and whose name to put forward for prime minister.

But whoever he picks faces a confidence vote in the National Assembly — the lower house of France's parliament — and requires the backing of parliament.

With the election looking set to produce a hung parliament, Mr Macron needs to name someone likely to be acceptable to a majority of members.

There is no indication of whether a left-leaning coalition will form government and it is unlikely the incumbent centrist leadership will form an alliance with Jean-Luc Mélencho's far-left LFI.

Mr Macron has said he will wait for the new assembly to have found some "structure" to decide his next move.

If no agreement is reached, it is also possible for him to establish a government of technocrats — non-politically aligned experts charged with managing day-to-day affairs but not overseeing structural changes.

Parliament's first session with its newly elected members will convene for 15 days on July 18.

Parties from the NFP, made up of the French Communist Party, hard-left France Unbowed, the Greens and the Socialist Party, met overnight for their first talks on how to proceed.

The president will likely be hoping to peel off Socialists and Greens from the leftist alliance, isolating France Unbowed, to form a centre-left coalition with his own bloc.

France Unbowed's firebrand leader Mr Melenchon said the new prime minister should hail from NFP.

However, the bloc has no leader, and its parties are strongly divided over who they could select as a suitable premier.

Some prominent centrist figures, including Edouard Philippe, a former prime minister under Mr Macron, said they were ready to work on a pact to ensure a stable government.

The euro fell on Sunday after the vote projections were announced.

"There's really going to be a vacuum when it comes to France's legislative ability," said Simon Harvey, head of FX analysis at Monex Europe in London.

As darkness fell on Sunday, the statue of Marianne in Place de la Republique was lit up by fireworks amid celebrations by left-wing supporters. Marianne is a national symbol of France, representing reason, liberty and the ideals of the republic.

Baptiste Fourastié, a 23-year-old designer in Place de la Republique, said: "We weren't expecting it, neither were the polls. We are happy that the French people succeeded once more in blocking the far right."

However, he was worried that the right might grow in strength and win next time if the next government were not beyond reproach.

"It will be difficult with a hung parliament, but better than if it was the far right [ahead]," he said.

ABC/wires