Europe | The French parliamentary election
After a deadlocked election, can anyone govern France?
The country is scrambling to find a new prime minister
![France's Prime Minister Gabriel Attal addresses media](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20240713_EUP504.jpg)
|PARIS
A BLACK OFFICIAL car swept into the courtyard of the Elysée Palace on July 8th carrying Gabriel Attal, the 35-year-old French prime minister. He went to tender his resignation to President Emmanuel Macron, as tradition dictates after a parliamentary election. This time, however, the voting a day earlier had been so inconclusive that Mr Macron asked him to stay on in a caretaker role. France has no replacement government ready, and is not yet sure how to form one.
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