The French president, Emmanuel Macron, is famed for his enthusiastic hugging of sports stars, as the footballer Kylian Mbappe can attest. Macron walked on to the pitch, somewhat awkwardly pulled Mbappe to his chest and patted his head to console him after defeat to Argentina in the last World Cup.

Though at the Paris Olympics, Macron’s touchy-feely approach to the nation’s athletes has exceeded anything that had gone before, and maybe because, in the next weeks, President Emmanuel Macron still will have to face the reality of the deadlocked politics created by his calling of snap legislative elections.

With the Games just around the corner, the polls left France with three major blocs in parliament, the left as the largest followed by Macron's centrist forces and the far right, with none of them close to mustering the numbers for an overall majority.

The former government of Macron allies, under Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, has carried on in a caretaker capacity throughout the Games, but five weeks after the elections, the country still does not have a new prime minister.

Macron may be hoping that the Games boost his embattled fortunes in the same way that France's winning and hosting of the 1998 football World Cup dragged up former president Jacques Chirac's popularity ratings. 

Though even with Paris set to continue basking in the limelight while hosting the Paralympics from August 28 to 8 September, Macron faces a potentially fraught return to reality. While the Games have lifted what was a morose mood in France, it is far from certain this will give a new impulse to the remaining three years of the unpopular president's mandate. 

"The fact that things are going well, that we are seen as beautiful and successful abroad, has struck a chord in a country that was experiencing decline and was no longer capable of doing great things collectively," said prominent political commentator Emmanuel Riviere.

"This changes the collective climate but not the political situation: the situation remains blocked, many voters are frustrated.The French are putting things into perspective and remain very angry with Emmanuel Macron."

Macron's approval ratings remain well under 30 percent, with the president keeping a low profile during the election campaign and the Games, spending most of the Olympics ensconced in the Mediterranean holiday residence of the French president and making only occasional visits to Paris. "The country needed this moment of coming together. In terms of the political impact, I remain very reserved," one minister from the outgoing government, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

The number one priority for Macron will be naming, and winning approval for, a new prime minister and government, a process that appears to remain as blocked as it was before the Games. The left-wing New Popular Front, which emerged as the largest faction post-election, has said it wants the economist Lucie Castets to be the new premier.

Macron's forces have shown little interest in the idea, preferring an alliance with the traditional right, with the name of former Chirac-era minister and current head of the northern Hauts de France region, Xavier Bertrand, frequently cited as a candidate to lead a centre-focused coalition.

Outgoing equality minister Aurore Berge named Bertrand as a possible candidate alongside the likes of former EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and Senate speaker Gerard Larcher, saying he had "solid experience of government, parliament and compromise".

Naming him would be an "aberration", objected Castets, while Greens leader Marine Tondelier accused Macron of exploiting the political "truce" he called for the Olympics. "This Olympic truce is not just because Emmanuel Macron is tired, it is because he wants time" and "to obstruct any attempt at political change," she said.

Macron and the public

At the side of the judo ring, he squeezed France’s gold medallist, Teddy Riner, the nation’s favourite sports star, in a back-slapping embrace, then held him firmly as he stared into his eyes, expressing his congratulations. He gave the judo bronze medallist Romane Dicko a notably long hug, repeatedly patted her hair, then wiped away her post-match tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. 

At the Stade de France, after the men’s rugby sevens won France’s first gold, he firmly gripped the face of scrum-half Antoine Dupont as he thanked him for his Olympics success. At the poolside, he grabbed the hand of swimmer Leon Marchand after one of his gold-medal wins.

Political opponents bristled at what they called the president’s “awkward” presence at carefully selected triumphant events for the national team. 

Though Macron knows the importance of harnessing the feel good factor in France. He was quick to make the comparison between the success of the Paris Games and the mood in 1998 after France won the men’s football World Cup, when the then president, Jacques Chirac, experienced a jump in popularity.

So far, Macron’s popularity bounce has been modest, an Elabe poll in Les Echos on 1 August found that 27% of French people trusted him to deal efficiently with the country’s problems, a rise of two points from his ratings at the start of July. As the closing ceremony ends on Sunday night, Macron will be plunged back into the difficulties of domestic politics.