PARIS (Reuters) - France's deeply fragmented parliament met on Thursday for the first time since this month's inconclusive election to vote on the assembly's president, in a ballot that could be key to who calls the shots in the country's politics for years to come.
A grouping of leftist parties unexpectedly came first in the election, ahead of President Emmanuel Macron's centrists and Marine Le Pen's far-right, but no one group won a majority.
Electing the lower house of parliament's president, equivalent to a speaker who organises the chamber's agenda and runs debates, is usually a formality.
The process has taken on more importance this time, with Macron weakened and a lot of uncertainty over who will form the next government and how effective it could be in a divided parliament.
The vote could also offer clues as to whether a coalition government that commands a working majority can be formed and what its political colours could be.
The New Popular Front (NFP) left-wing alliance, hastily assembled before the snap election, wants to run the government but has been fighting bitterly since the July 7 second round of voting over who to put forward as prime minister.
It hopes its candidate for parliament chief, veteran Communist lawmaker Andre Chassaigne, who is well-liked across party lines, could be elected. This could be a boost to its chances of forming a government, by showing the alliance can command a majority in the assembly.
Chassaigne's election would show parliament's "freedom and independence" from Macron, Benjamin Lucas, a Green party lawmaker from the NFP group, told Reuters.
NO MAJORITY?
However, Macron's Together group could be striking a deal with the conservatives to try to get the outgoing parliament chief, Yael Braun-Pivet, re-elected.
Macron's camp in turn hopes that would put mainstream parties in a stronger position to forge an alliance to form a government that could include some of the NFP but exclude the hard-left France Unbowed.
The far-right National Rally (RN), though it has little hope of getting the speaker role, is vying for other key roles in the assembly, including chairing the powerful finance committee.
Other candidates for parliament president include centrist Charles de Courson - who does not belong to Macron's party - and the RN's Sebastien Chenu.
As the oldest MP, 81-year-old RN lawmaker Jose Gonzalez presided over Thursday's session. The outcome of the first voting round, which was underway, was expected at around 1500 GMT.
Votes are confidential and alliances are likely to be struck between voting rounds. To win in the first round, a candidate would need an absolute majority of votes cast, which is unlikely to happen. The process is the same for the second round. In the third round, the candidate with the most votes wins.
Once the president has been chosen, attention will return to who will run the government. Centrist Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has resigned but is, for now, staying on in a caretaker capacity.
The caretaker government is likely to stay on for the Olympic Games, which Paris is hosting from July 26 to Aug. 11, and possibly beyond.
No matter what happens, the constitution dictates that there can be no repeat snap election for a year.
RN lawmaker Philippe Ballard said parliament was so fragmented that the current situation was not viable.
"Dissolving parliament again in a year is the only way out, since no group, in this assembly, can have a majority," he told reporters.