Paris —

France’s prime minister has quit after losing a confidence vote that toppled his government, plunging the country into a new political crisis.

François Bayrou submitted his resignation to President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, who accepted it. A day earlier, 364 out of 573 lawmakers had voted against Bayrou’s government – well above the 280 needed – after his attempt to force through an unpopular plan to tame France’s ballooning budget deficit.

Macron will appoint a successor “in the coming days,” according to the Élysée Palace, his fifth prime minister in less than two years.

Before he was ousted, Bayrou warned that getting rid of him would not resolve France’s challenges. “You have the power to bring down the government, but you do not have the power to erase reality,” he to

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