FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron today named ally Francois Bayrou as Prime Minister following the historic parliamentary vote that ousted the previous government.

The 73-year-old is a partner in Mr Macron’s centrist alliance and has been well known  in French politics for decades.

Mr Macron’s office said in a statement that Bayrou “has been charged with forming a new government.”

No single party holds a majority in the National Assembly, and Mr Macron has consistently refused to nominate a prime minister from its largest bloc, the left-wing New Popular Front.

Mr Bayrou is expected to meet with political leaders from various parties in the coming days to choose new ministers.

But Mr Macron’s ruling alliance falls far short of the seats needed to legislate, and would need to come to an arrangement with either the left or right to survive.

Far-right National Rally president Jordan Bardella said that his party, which propped up Mr Barnier until the recent no-confidence vote, will take a wait-and-see approach for now.

“Our red lines are still there, they’re not going to change,” he warned.

Mathilde Panot, head of the left-wing France Unbowed group, criticised Mr Bayrou’s appointment in a message on X as “the continuity of [Mr Macron’s] bad policies.”

She said that her party is ready to vote for another no-confidence motion against the new government.

Mr Bayrou leads the Democratic Movement (MoDem), which he founded in 2007.

He was forced to resign from his role as justice minister in 2017 following investigations into MoDem’s alleged embezzlement of European Parliament funds, but was cleared by a Paris court this year.