France's newly elected lawmakers begin choosing speaker amid political turmoil

Paris — France's influential lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, held its opening session Thursday to elect a speaker after chaotic snap elections called by President Emmanuel Macron produced a hung legislature.

Parliamentary elections earlier this month resulted in a split between three major political blocs: the New Popular Front leftist coalition, Macron's centrist allies and the far-right National Rally party. None of them won an outright majority.

The National Assembly's opening session comes after Macron on Tuesday accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and other ministers but asked them to handle affairs in a caretaker capacity until a new government is appointed, as France prepares to host the Paris Olympics at the end of the month.

Politicians from the three main blocs and smaller parties are waging a battle for the job of speaker, with each camp seeking to make a show of force in the hope it will influence the future nomination of a prime minister. Six candidates are in the running.

To be elected, a candidate must receive at least half of votes from the 577 lawmakers in the National Assembly in the first or second round of voting.

If no candidate crosses that threshold, the one who obtains the most votes wins in the third round.

Members of the New Popular Front, which won the most seats in the assembly, urged the president to turn to them to form the new government. Yet its main parties, the hard-left France Unbowed, the Socialists, the Greens and the Communists, are still feuding among themselves over whom to choose as their prime ministerial candidate.

After days of tense discussions, they agreed on a joint candidacy Thursday for the job of speaker and picked 74-year-old Andre Chassaigne, a key figure of the Communist party. Chassaigne has been a lawmaker since 2002 and is known for his deep involvement in parliamentary work.

Unions and left-wing activists staged protests Thursday across the country to "put pressure" on Macron to choose a prime minister who comes from the New Popular Front.

There is no firm timeline for when the president must name a new prime minister.