With the end of the summer holiday in sight and the Paris Olympic Games having passed, French politicians are once again turning their attention to the business of trying to resolve the issue of who runs the country following the recent snap legislative election.
The vote, across two rounds in June and July, was called by President Emmanuel Macron to see off the threat from the far-right National Rally party, or RN.
But it was only partly successful as although his own centrist Ensemble coalition won more seats than RN in the National Assembly, the left-wing alliance, known as the New Popular Front, or NFP, ended up with the largest number of seats, but still no overall majority.
This means the parliament is divided into three large blocs with major ideological differences, and six weeks since voting finished and the result became clear, the country still has the same cabinet and same prime minister, Gabriel Attal, in a caretaker capacity until a new government can be formed.
Macron now faces the challenge of breaking the political logjam, and will start talks, initially with the NFP, on Friday.
"The appointment of a prime minister will follow on from these consultations and their conclusions," said a statement from the Elysee Palace. Macron, it continued, hoped "to continue to move toward the constitution of the broadest and most stable majority possible in the service of the country".
NFP's leading prime ministerial candidate is left-wing economist Lucie Castets, but Macron has made it clear he would prefer someone with a wider base of support who is less likely to prompt a vote of no confidence in the government in the National Assembly.
Other contenders include the Socialist Party's Bernard Cazeneuve, who previously served as prime minister from 2016-17 and has significant top-level ministerial experience, or if a more right-wing option is preferred, Xavier Bertrand of the Republicans party.
Marine Le Pen and her protege Jordan Bardella, whose far-right National Rally came third in the second round of the legislative elections, will be taking their turn to speak with Macron on Monday, reported the France 24 news website.
David Todd, a professor of modern history at Sciences Po University in Paris, told the website that the country is in uncharted political waters, and there is no clear way ahead.
"There's no precedent in the (post-1958) Fifth Republic to the situation we're in," he said.
"The current situation can only be provisional — everyone's just getting ready for the next election, whether that's a general or a presidential election. It's not really about running a government, but about running an electoral campaign."
