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France's Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has resigned, less than a day after his cabinet was unveiled.

The presidential office issued a statement after Lecornu met Macron for an hour on Monday morning.

This unexpected development comes only 26 days after Lecornu was given the PM role following the collapse of the prior administration of François Bayrou.

Parties across the board in the legislature had fiercely criticised the makeup of Lecornu's cabinet, which was mostly similar to Bayrou's, and threatened to vote it down.

Calls for New Vote and Political Unrest

A number of factions are now demanding early elections, with others demanding the President to step down as well - despite the fact that he has always said he will not resign before his time in office finishes in five years from now.

"The President needs to pick: calling new elections or resignation," said Chenu, one of key representatives of the National Rally.

The outgoing PM - the ex-defense chief and a ally of the President - was the fifth premier in under two years.

Background of Government Crisis

French politics has been markedly turbulent since mid-2024, when snap parliamentary elections resulted in a deadlocked assembly.

This has made it difficult for every premier to obtain required votes to pass any bills.

The former cabinet was voted down in September after the assembly voted against his austerity budget, which aimed to reduce public expenditure by 44 billion euros.

Economic Pressures and Stock Reaction

The French shortfall stood at nearly 6% of the economy in 2024 and its national debt is more than the total economic output.

That is the third highest public debt in the European monetary union after Greece and Italy, and equivalent to almost 50k euros for each resident.

Stocks fell sharply in the French stock market after the news of Lecornu's resignation emerged on Monday.