More than 200 candidates in French legislative elections withdraw in attempt to block the far right in the second round – National
Opponents of France National Rally The National Democratic Party (RN) stepped up its efforts to block the far-right party from gaining power on Tuesday, as more candidates agreed to withdraw from this weekend’s runoff election to avoid splitting the anti-RN vote.
More than 200 candidates have confirmed they will not run in Sunday’s second round of parliamentary elections, according to local media estimates. The others have until 6:00 p.m. (1600 GMT) to make their choice.
Marine Le Pen’s RN came out on top in Sunday’s first round, after President Emmanuel Macron’s gamble on early elections failed, leaving her centrist camp in a modest third place behind the RN and a hastily formed left-wing alliance.
But even before the maneuvers of the last 24 hours to create a “republican front” to block the anti-immigrant and eurosceptic party, it was far from obvious that the RN could win the 289 seats needed for a majority.
Pollsters have calculated that the RN could win between 250 and 300 seats in the first round. But that was before tactical withdrawals and cross-party calls for voters to back the candidate best placed to defeat their local RN rival.
“The game is not over. We must mobilize all our forces,” declared the socialist mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, on France 2.
The RN is hostile to deeper integration with the European Union and would cut EU funding. Human rights groups have raised concerns about how its “national preference” and anti-migrant policies could apply to ethnic minorities, while economists question whether its big spending plans are fully funded.
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In Warsaw, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called on pro-EU parties to do more to address the concerns of ordinary voters and counter rising nationalism, after talks with his German counterpart Olaf Scholz.
Financial markets rose on Monday, relieved that the far right had not fared better, but the reaction was muted by the knowledge that a parliament without an absolute majority would also risk paralyzing Macron’s policies until 2027.
There was some initial confusion over whether Macron’s allies would withdraw from local elections in favour of better-placed rival candidates if they came from Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s radical left La France Insoumise (LFI) party.
Macron, however, said on Monday, during a closed-door meeting of ministers at the Elysée Palace, that the top priority was to prevent the RN from coming to power and that LFI candidates could be supported if necessary.
The “republican front” has worked before, as in 2002, when voters from all sides rallied behind Jacques Chirac to defeat Marine Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie, in a presidential election.
It is not clear, however, that today’s voters are prepared to follow political leaders’ advice on where to vote, given that Marine Le Pen’s efforts to soften her party’s image have made it less of a pariah to millions.
A poll by the Ifop institute shows that a small majority of those who voted conservative in the first round would support the left-wing candidate best placed to beat an RN rival in the second round – unless that candidate comes from Mélenchon’s LFI party.
On Tuesday, Le Pen reiterated her assertion that the RN would not attempt to form a government if it did not have a viable majority in parliament, but added that this could also involve reaching out to allies if the RN itself failed to secure 289 seats.
“We cannot agree to form a government if we are not capable of acting. That would be the worst betrayal of our voters,” she said on France Inter radio.
Assuming no group has a clear majority after Sunday, politicians of all stripes have proposed various ways to proceed with the remainder of Macron’s presidency.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has suggested that the main parties of the right, left and centre could form ad hoc alliances to vote on individual bills in the new parliament.
Xavier Bertrand, a leader of the centre-right Les Républicains (LR) party, called on Tuesday for the formation of a “provisional government” to lead France until the next presidential election.
In a foretaste of the sour mood that would prevail if Macron were to “cohabit” in power with an RN-led government, Le Pen referred to media speculation that he was considering making key public sector appointments aimed at preventing the RN from implementing its policies.
Without saying she had any evidence of what was happening, Marine Le Pen said such a move would amount to an “administrative coup.” In a statement, Macron’s office said only that discussions about such appointments had taken place at weekly cabinet meetings for 66 years and that there were no plans to change the arrangement.
