Candidates exit French election run-off to block far right
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
A campaigner distributing election leaflets of the French far-right National Rally party, on July 2, at a market in Libourne, south-western France.
PHOTO: AFP
PARIS - More than 200 centrist and left-wing candidates pulled out of France’s legislative election run-off ahead of the July 2 deadline, in a move President Emmanuel Macron hopes will block the far right from winning power.
France votes on July 7 in the final round of snap legislative polls Mr Macron called seeking a “clarification” in politics after his camp was trounced in European elections in June.
His gamble backfired, with the far-right National Rally (RN) of Ms Marine Le Pen winning the first round on June 30. But the key question now is whether the RN can get enough seats to form a government.
Faced with the prospect of the far right taking power for the first time since France’s occupation by Nazi Germany during World War II, Mr Macron’s camp and the left have urged a broad “republican front” to stop Ms Le Pen’s anti-immigration and euro-sceptic party.
More than 200 pro-Macron or left-wing candidates had pulled out of contests before the deadline on July 2, in an attempt to prevent the RN winning seats.
Ms Le Pen appeared to row back previous comments that the RN would only form a government with an absolute majority of 289 of the 577 seats in the National Assembly, saying it would still try if slightly below this figure.
She said her party would seek to form a government and make her 28-year-old protege Jordan Bardella prime minister from a minimum of “for example, 270 deputies”, and then find support from 19 more MPs.
“If we then have a majority, then yes, of course, we’ll go and do what the voters elected us to do,” she told broadcaster France Inter.
If Mr Bardella becomes prime minister, this would create a tense period of “cohabitation” with Mr Macron, who has vowed to serve out his term until 2027.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, 35, said late on July 1 it “would be catastrophic for the French” to give the far right an absolute majority.
‘You don’t have the right!’
On July 2, Mr Attal came under pressure from a 22-year-old voter during a campaign stop in Paris who accused the centrist camp of not doing enough to prevent the ascent of Ms Le Pen’s party.
“You don’t have the right to leave the world to the far right,” the man told Mr Attal in a tense exchange, adding that people of his generation “are just starting out in life”.
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal (right) listening to a supporter during a campaign visit to Chatres, in central France, on July 2.
Just 76 lawmakers, almost all from the far right and left, were elected outright in the first round of voting at the weekend.
The fate of the remaining 501 seats will be determined in the second round in a run-off between two or three remaining candidates.
Of the candidates who have decided to quit the race, more than 120 are members of the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition, which came second in the first round, and more than 70 represent Mr Macron’s camp.
An RN candidate on July 2 also dropped out of the race over a social media post that showed her in a cap from the Luftwaffe air force of Nazi Germany, a party official said.
But there has been discord within the presidential camp over backing those NFP candidates who hark from the France Unbowed (LFI) hard-left party.
Several heavyweights in the Macron camp, including Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire and former prime minister Edouard Philippe, have argued they should not help candidates from the LFI, which is accused by its critics of extremism and failing to back Israel after the Oct 7 attack by Hamas.
‘Administrative coup’
As tensions rose five days ahead of the ballot, Ms Le Pen accused Mr Macron of rushing to appoint officials to key jobs in the police and other institutions before any cohabitation in what she described as “a form of administrative coup d’etat”.
Mr Macron’s office urged her to show “restraint”, saying appointments have been part of an established routine.
Most projections in the immediate aftermath of the first round showed the RN falling short of an absolute majority.
Analysts say the most likely outcome is a hung Parliament that could lead to months of political paralysis, at a time when France is hosting the Olympics.
The chaos also risks damaging the international credibility of Mr Macron, a champion of Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion who is set to attend a Nato summit in Washington immediately after the vote. AFP
