France’s leftist coalition demands the right to form a government after fractured parliament vote WPXI [Video]

PARIS — (AP) — The leftist coalition that won the most seats in France’s National Assembly in surprise results demanded on Tuesday the immediate right to form a government, even though no grouping won a majority of seats.

It is unprecedented in France’s modern history to have a fractured parliament. Sunday’s vote raised the risk of paralysis for the European Union’s second-largest economy. The legislature is split between the New Popular Front leftist coalition, President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist allies and the far-right National Rally.

Macron on Monday asked his prime minister, Gabriel Attal, to continue handling day-to-day affairs, despite Attal’s offer of resignation, less than three weeks before the start of the Paris Olympics. Macron leaves Wednesday for a NATO summit in Washington.

The leftist coalition’s three main parties — the hard-left France Unbowed, the Socialists and the Greens — began negotiations to find a candidate for prime minister. The coalition in a statement called …