The French prime minister, François Bayrou, is expected to be ousted in a confidence vote on Monday afternoon, plunging the eurozone’s second biggest economy into political crisis.

Opposition parties from the left to the far right have made clear they will vote against the 74-year-old centrist, meaning he and his minority government would fall after only nine months in office.

The centrist president, Emmanuel Macron, is then likely to face the challenge of appointing his third prime minister in a year, and the fifth since he began his second term in office in 2022.

As head of state with authority on foreign policy and national security, the president directly appoints a prime minister to run domestic affairs. But after Macron called a snap parliamentary election last year, the national assembly has been divided into three blocs – left, centre and far right – with no absolute majority, creating a form of political deadlock and disagreement on the budget. This means there is no certainty that a new prime minister would be safe from a similar swift ousting.