France has been plagued with political instability ever since last year's hotly contested election ended in a hung parliament.

The latest example of that came this week when Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu rocked the country by abruptly resigning. 

Lecornu steps down less than a month after taking office

As The Hill reported, Lecornu announced his resignation on Monday, a move which came less than a month after he took office and only 24 hours after choosing members of his cabinet.

His departure came after 50 members of the moderately conservative Republicans party withdrew their support from Lecornu's governing coalition after objecting to his choice for defense minister.

Bruno Retailleau serves as head of the Republicans, and he disavowed responsibility for the government's collapse, telling broadcaster TF1 that blame lies squarely with Lecornu.

"It's a matter of trust. You promise a break and end up with returning horses. This government embodied all the conditions to be censured," The Hill quoted him as telling the network.

Populist leader says president must call an election

The Hill noted how Lecornu is widely regarded as being a close ally of French President Emmanuel Macron, who is a bitter rival of populist figure Marine Le Pen.

Le Pen, who founded France's National Rally party, suggested to the Associated Press that Macron has no choice but to call yet another election.

"This raises a question for the President of the Republic: can he continue to resist the legislature dissolution? We have reached the end of the road," she declared.

"There is no other solution," the politician insisted before adding that "[t]he only wise course of action in these circumstances is to return to the polls."

Polls put National Rally well ahead of Marcon's party

Politico pointed out that  Jordan Bardella is National Rally's president, and he voiced a similar message to that put forward by Le Pen.

"We are ready to govern," Bardella said on Monday to reporters who were gathered outside of his party's headquarters following Lecornu's resignation.

Marine Le Pen has already toppled two French governments in less than a year. She didn’t even need to pull the trigger to kill off a third one. https://t.co/RU5jQykdI0

— POLITICOEurope (@POLITICOEurope) October 6, 2025

Politico highlighted polling data which suggests that National Rally is set to capture somewhere between 33% and 34% of the vote in a legislative election.

That would make it France's largest political party and well ahead of Macron's Renaissance party, whose support level appears to be roughly half that of National Rally.