Applications are closed for the second round, more than 200 withdrawals against the RN

The scene is set for the second round of the legislative elections, after the closing of candidacies on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m., which revealed more than 200 withdrawals in an attempt to form a “Republican front” against a National Rally on the verge of an absolute majority.

According to an AFP count, 127 members of the left-wing New Popular Front have chosen to withdraw, as well as 81 candidates from the Macronist coalition Ensemble pour la République. To which are added three deputies attached to the right-wing party Les Républicains and an independent overseas elected official.

Often without enthusiasm, the withdrawals of Macronist or left-wing candidates take place in the overwhelming majority of constituencies where at least three candidates were qualified and where the Le Pen party is in a position to win. As in Haute-Garonne or in Hérault, where ministers Dominique Faure and Patricia Mirallès ended up giving up.

“Withdrawals do not mean rallies”repeated Gabriel Attal, on a trip to Eure-et-Loir on Tuesday, reaffirming that there was no question “of a coalition, of an alliance” with La France insoumise.

By limiting the triangular and quadrangular races (out of the 311 possible at the end of the first round, 110 should remain), the objective is to prevent the RN from obtaining an absolute majority of 289 deputies. If this were achieved, the opponents of the far-right party would then face the complex task of forming a majority or an alternative government capable of leading France.

For his part, Jordan Bardella, ready to enter Matignon, denounced “alliances of dishonor” and called on voters to grant him an absolute majority “in the face of the existential threat to the French nation” which, according to him, the New Popular Front represents.

An illustration of these withdrawals: in Calvados, the LFI candidate withdrew to favour the re-election of Élisabeth Borne, whom the left had nevertheless vigorously fought on pension and immigration reforms.

In the other direction, despite the « you RN, you LFI » advocated by Édouard Philippe, a Horizons candidate in Seine-Maritime, Laurent Bonnaterre, withdrew, thus offering the possibility to an outgoing LFI deputy Alma Dufour to keep her seat.

There are a few exceptions, such as the Renaissance Loïc Signor who is holding on to the constituency of the Insoumis Louis Boyard, a deputy “against the Republic” according to the presidential party.

And some particularities are emerging, such as in Paris, where the Place Publique-New Popular Front candidate Théa Foudrinier withdrew in favor of the Macronist Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet, who will face… an LR candidate.

Far from these national equations, in Paris, the outgoing Renaissance and dissident candidate Gilles Le Gendre has withdrawn and is calling for a vote for the left against the Macronist candidate pushed by Rachida Dati.

“Beat the far right”

Emmanuel Macron told his ministers that “not a voice” should not “go to the far right”recalling that the left had mobilized against the RN in 2017 and in 2022, allowing its own accession to the Élysée.

A way of responding to those who, in the majority like Bruno Le Maire, put the RN and La France Insoumise back to back, accused of having flirted with anti-Semitism during the European campaign.

“I’m the one leading this campaign” et “The important thing is my word”insisted Gabriel Attal on Tuesday.

On the civil society side, an inter-union composed of the CFDT, CGT, Unsa, FSU and Solidaires, called for a vote for the candidates “best placed to beat the far right”just like a thousand historians in a column in Le Monde.

For its part, the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF) has stuck to its line. « you RN, you LFI ».

Assembly “plural”

On Sunday, the navy blue wave broke with more than 10.6 million votes, or 33.1% of the vote, a historic level – excluding the second round of the 2022 presidential election.

In the first round, the RN elected 39 deputies, starting with Marine Le Pen in Pas-de-Calais. The party with the flame, allied with Eric Ciotti, qualified in 443 of the 577 constituencies and is in the lead in 296 of them.

For the first time since World War II, the far right could rule France. And other political forces have few options to stop it.

Jordan Bardella has already made it known that he would refuse the post of Prime Minister if he did not have an absolute majority, i.e. 289 deputies.

But, if the RN approaches it, with “for example 270 deputies”Marine Le Pen indicated that her party would seek to attract “MPs, for example, from various right-wing, various left-wing, LR, who have expressed in the past a closeness to us”.

If the party with the flame could not govern, the Macronists, a part of the left and certain LR could try to form a « grande coalition »common in European countries but foreign to French political traditions.

Gabriel Attal thus hoped that a result would emerge from the ballot boxes “Plural assembly”LR Xavier Bertrand for his part evoking a “national revival government”.

But Manuel Bompard ruled out LFI participating in such a coalition. “The Insoumis will only govern to implement their program, nothing but the program, but the whole program”he said.

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