French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve was appointed as the new prime minister on Tuesday, December 6 after Manuel Valls resigned to seek the Socialist nomination in next year's presidential election, AFP reports.

Cazeneuve, who has overseen the security forces' reaction to a string of jihadist attacks that have killed more than 230 people in France over the past two years, will take control of the Socialist government until May's election.

He was named prime minister after President Francois Hollande accepted Valls's resignation early Tuesday.

Valls, who had been prime minister for the past two and a half years, announced on Monday he would step down to try to rally the fractured French left ahead of a primary in January.

In a combative speech, the 54-year-old Valls vowed to take the fight to the conservative opposition and the far-right National Front, who are both ahead of the Socialists in the polls.

His announcement came four days after Hollande said he would bow out after a single term, paving the way for Valls to try to become the left's new standard bearer.

"My candidacy is one of reconciliation," Valls, himself a former interior minister, said in a speech from his political base in the tough Paris suburb of Evry.