Emmanuel Macron rules out snap election after no confidence vote plunges France into crisis
Emmanuel Macron has refused to call a snap election after his Prime Minister François Bayrou lost a no confidence vote, thrusting the French government into chaos.
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Calls are growing for the President to call a snap election after the fifth prime minister of his second term was ousted on Monday.
Marine Le Pen, president of the far-right National Rally, said a fresh electoral contest "is the only way, the best way, to get out of a political crisis".
“Dissolving parliament will not be option, but an obligation,” she added.
The National Rally's Jordan Bardella echoed those calls, arguing "this country has been deadlocked for over a year".
"It is dangerous to leave France drifting like this and to let those who've been in power for decades destroy the country," he told the BBC.
Read more: Chaos in France is a warning sign to Britain, writes James Hanson
Mr Macron has so far refused to cave to those demands and vowed to stay in office until the end of his term due in 2027.
The President now has a tough task ahead in finding a replacement for Mr Bayrou but has confirmed a successor will be announced in the coming days.
The no confidence vote has sparked turmoil in Mr Macron’s centrist minority government, ushering in another period of political instability in the European Union's second-biggest economy.
Mr Macron is scrambling to keep the centre together as pressure piles on the President while the National Rally tops the polls.
It comes as France's public deficits spiral, threatening the future of the European Union's second-largest economy amid a seemingly worsening crisis.
The French President called a snap parliamentary election last year, only to further worsen the fragmentation of parliament after failing to deliver an outright majority for any party.
Far-right Marine Le Pen was slated to win, the left-wing coalition New Popular Front (NFP) led by hard-left veteran Jean-Luc Mélenchon surged to win the most seats in the election.
Macron, in turn, was supposed to appoint a candidate suitable for parliament, which is normally someone from the party with the most votes, the left-wing NFP. He decided instead to appoint the conservative Bayrou, one of his earliest allies.
The 74-year-old has been in office since December, serving a prime ministerial term marked by chaos as France reckons with an ever-growing mountain of debt.
France's deficit hit 5.8% of gross domestic product last year, way above the official EU target of 3%.
After the vote, Macron has the choice to either pick a successor to serve as PM; call for new parliamentary elections; or call for a presidential election, which would see him forced to resign.
The first option - which he has seemingly chosen - is difficult, as the French parliament is divided into three groups: the left, the centre and far-right.
Neither faction is likely to accept a member of an opposing group to serve as Prime Minister, which could lead to another confidence vote.
Behind National Rally in the polls are the hard-left New Popular Front, and Macron wants to keep either party from gaining too much political ground.
The third option would mean him giving up the presidency, which he has vowed not to do until his term ends in 2027, despite pressure on him to do so from MPs.
Bayrou is expected to stay on as caretaker until Macron announces the new French Prime Minister, who will have a tough task ahead of them.