Chirac appoints new PM

President Jacques Chirac appointed Dominique de Villepin, a loyalist who was France's voice against the Iraq war, as prime minister Tuesday.

Villepin, formerly the interior minister, replaces Jean-Pierre Raffarin, dumped after voters on Sunday roundly rejected Chirac's call for the ratification of a European Union constitution.

Chirac charged Villepin, 51,

with the task of forming a new government.

Villepin arrived at the presidential Elysee Palace just minutes after Chirac bid farewell to Raffarin with a handshake on the palace steps.

Villepin was Chirac's foreign minister during the Iraq war. He is best known for his eloquent defense of the French stance against a US-led invasion.