French President Emmanuel Macron has said he will not appoint a new government until after the Paris Olympics.
This comes after the New Popular Front (NFP), a left-wing coalition that became the largest force in France's parliament after recent elections, nominated a little-known civil servant, Lucy Castets, as its candidate for prime minister.
Responding to the proposal, President Macron said making new appointments before mid-August would be “chaotic”.
Left-wing politicians have accused him of trying to “annul the results of the parliamentary elections.”
The Olympics will have an opening ceremony in central Paris on Friday and are due to conclude on August 11.
Macron accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal following heavy defeats for centrist parties in parliamentary elections that ended earlier this month.
However, Atal and his ministers agreed to remain in power in a caretaker capacity until a successor could be appointed.
In the French system, the president traditionally appoints the prime minister who can secure a majority of seats in the National Assembly.
No party currently has a majority, but the NFP controls at least 182 of the 577 seats, making it the strongest position to field candidates.
On Tuesday, after weeks of negotiations and just an hour before Macron was scheduled to give a television interview, the group recommended Castets, citing his record of working to protect public services.
Castets is a 37-year-old economist and civil servant who currently works as finance and purchasing director for the city of Paris, but has no experience in party politics.
This selection is unusual as the prime minister is usually a member of parliament.
Writing for X, Caste said he accepted the nomination “with great humility, but with great conviction.”
But when asked about the NFP proposal in an interview with state broadcaster France 2, Macron said: “This is not the issue. The name is not the issue. The issue is which party can form a majority in parliament.”
“Obviously, until mid-August I need to focus on the Olympics.
“We can't change the situation until mid-August because it would cause chaos.”
He also said no parliamentary group won a majority in the elections and it was not yet clear which group would be in a position to appoint the prime minister.
He said he would aim to appoint a prime minister who has the “broadest possible support”.
Macron's comments sparked angry reactions from some members of the NFP.
Marine Tondelier, national secretary of the Ecologists, one of the group's component parties, said Macron must “move out of denial”.
“We have won. We have a plan. We have a prime minister,” she wrote to X.
“Our voters now expect the social justice and environmental justice measures they asked for to be implemented.
“The president can't stop them like this.”
Undaunted, France's national coordinator, Manuel Bompard, accused him of “trying to cancel the results of the parliamentary elections.”
“This is an intolerable denial of democracy,” he said. “In France, the people express their will, but the president has no veto.”
