THE French presidential palace unveiled a new government dominated by rightwingers and centrists at the weekend, more than two months after a left-wing coalition won the most seats in a parliamentary election but fell short of an overall majority.

President Emmanuel Macron named conservative Michel Barnier as prime minister earlier this month, even though the latter’s Republicans did badly in the elections.

Mr Macron’s refusal to allow the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance to try to form a minority administration has sparked continuing anger, with more nationwide protests taking place on Saturday.

France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, whose party is the biggest in the NFP, called the country’s new ministerial team “a government of the general election losers” and said that France should get rid of it as soon as possible.

If the government does survive, it will be by winning opposition support for its legislative proposals, which, given the new administration's political complexion, is most likely to come from Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally.

However, National Rally leader Jordan Bardella dismissed the new government as “a return to Macronism” that had “no future whatsoever.”