LEFT parties in France accused  the French President of exercising a “royal veto” today after he refused to appoint a prime minister from the left-wing coalition that gained most seats in last weekend’s National Assembly election.

President Emmanuel Macron has called on the country’s political parties to build a “republican” majority at the National Assembly before he announces a new prime minister.

Though no party won a majority in Sunday’s election, the left-wing New Popular Front (NPF) alliance of communists, socialists and Greens topped the poll with 193 seats in the 577-strong National Assembly.

Mr Macron’s Renaissance business-orientated coalition claimed second place with 164 seats while Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally — now the largest single party in the Assembly — came third with 143.

In a letter published by several French media outlets, President Macron wrote that “nobody has won” the election, calling on parties who adhere to “republican institutions, the rule of law, parliamentary norms, a (pro-)European orientation and the defence of French independence” to build a compromise.

“It is in the light of these principles that I will decide on the appointment of the prime minister,” he said. 

Socialist Party chief Olivier Faure said the president was failing to respect the vote of the French people.

France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Melenchon blasted the “return of the royal veto,” pointing out that after the 2022 elections, in which his alliance won 174 seats, the president had said: “These legislative elections have made the presidential majority the leading political force in the National Assembly.”

Now the president refuses to accept the NPF victory with 193 seats.

Sophie Binet, head of France's biggest trade union federation the CGT, accused the president of plunging the country into chaos.

“It’s like having Louis XVI locking himself away in Versailles,” she said, referring to the king guillotined in 1793 during the French Revolution.