France on the brink: Macron govt faces no-confidence votes

Paris: France could sink deeper into political crisis Thursday when the prime minister faces two attempts in Parliament to topple his fragile new govt, which could leave President Macron with no palatable option other than calling snap legislative elections.

Legislators in the National Assembly, the powerful but deeply divided lower house, will vote on no-confidence motions filed by Macron's fiercest opponents - the hard-left France Unbowed party and Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally and her allies in parliament. If PM Sebastien Lecornu survives, it could be close. Should the ally of Macron fall, president has hinted through a govt spokeswoman that he could dissolve the National Assembly rather than name a replacement for Lecornu. ap