PARIS, Aug 23, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - French President Emmanuel Macron was Friday

to begin a round of thorny consultations with political leaders, hoping to
cobble together a viable ruling coalition after last month's inconclusive
election.

A full six weeks after a snap election in which Macron lost his parliamentary
majority, he has still not named a new prime minister, whose first major task
will be to submit next year's budget plan to the National Assembly.

The left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) -- which emerged as the largest faction
post-election -- has said it wants the economist Lucie Castets to be the new
premier.

But Macron's forces have shown little interest in the idea, preferring a
potential alliance with the traditional right.

Castets will be the first political figure to meet with Macron at the Elysee
palace on Friday, accompanied by other NFP representatives.

"We're not going to negotiate with him," said Manuel Bompard, coordinator of
the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party of the upcoming meeting with Macron.

"We'll tell him that there is no alternative to Lucie Castets's appointment."

But allies of Macron -- who said after the election that "nobody won" -- have
argued that the leftist bloc is too weak to claim the prime minister's post,
and are hoping instead to form a majority around a centrist figure.

The current period is the longest France has ever been without a leader of
government following a legislative election, after Macron said he would not
prioritise the task of finding one during the Paris Olympic Games, which
ended on August 11.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has been running a caretaker government.

Opposition figures have sharply criticised Macron for taking so much time,
with Green Party senator Yannick Jadot calling the president's stance "a
denial of democracy".

Even some of Macron's own allies have become impatient.

An official in his office insisted Thursday that "the president is on the
side of the French people, the guarantor of the institutions".

The Elysee talks -- scheduled for Friday and Monday -- include
representatives from across the political spectrum.

Macron's office did not give an indication when the president might make his
choice for prime minister, but observers expect him to do so sometime next
week.

Whoever is appointed must be able to survive a confidence motion in
parliament and present a 2025 budget draft law to parliament by October 1,
the legal deadline.