The resignation of France’s Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu on Monday and the resulting resignation of the French government have left President Emmanuel Macron with a series of largely untenable options to restore order in his floundering government.
Flanked by far-left and far-right members of parliament, Macron’s center-right government failed on Monday after PM Lecornu’s announcement of his cabinet led a bloc of conservatives to withdraw their support from the administration and forced Lecornu to resign. Macron gave Lecornu until Wednesday evening to pursue “final negotiations” in holding together his coalition.
If talks fail, Macron must either make his sixth PM appointment since his reelection in 2022, or dissolve the lower house of the Parliament and call early legislative elections. A PM from Macron’s inner circle would likely lead to a similar result as that of Lecornu, while a compromise pick to satisfy either the left or right wings of parliament would alienate the other and potentially the support of centrist members.
“We have exhausted the options for finding a stable government in this Parliament,” said Anne-Charlène Bezzina, a senior lecturer in public law at the University of Rouen, according to the New York Times. “So the best solution is elections and a dissolution of Parliament, which will at least clarify the people’s will.”
A dissolution of the National Assembly, the lower house of France’s parliament, would prompt an election whose results, according to polling data, would likely place far-right parties in control of the French Parliament. The parliamentary leader of France’s far-right National Rally, Marine Le Pen, called for just such an election on Monday following Lecornu’s resignation.
“There is no solution, there won’t be one tomorrow,” Le Pen said on Monday. “I call on the President of the Republic to dissolve the National Assembly.”
Recent polling underscores the risk of such an outcome: surveys from multiple pollsters in September 2025 place Le Pen’s National Rally and its allies between 33% and 35%, roughly 10 to 20 points ahead of both the left-wing and centrist blocs. The National Rally and its allies hold only 20.6% of the current parliament.
“There can be no restored stability without a return to the ballot box and without the dissolution of the National Assembly,” Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally, told TV reporters on Monday, according to the New York Times.
Operating the government until Wednesday, Lecornu laid out the steps he will take over the coming days as President Macron decides what actions will be taken in restoring the government.
“I began this morning the final discussions with the political forces for the stability of the country, at the request of the President of the Republic, by inviting the leaders of the parties of the common base and the presidents of both chambers of Parliament,” Lecornu said on X Tuesday.
“I proposed that we focus on two priorities, which are imperative for the entire political class,” Lecornu continued. “First, the adoption of a budget for the State and for social security. Next, the institutional future of New Caledonia. All those present agreed on these two urgencies and expressed the desire to find a quick resolution.”
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