Legislative elections in France: a hundred withdrawals to counter the extreme right

In the wake of the historic surge of the extreme right in the legislative elections in France, which has aroused interest or fear in Europe, withdrawals by candidates from the left and right are increasing on Monday to prevent it from obtaining an absolute majority in the second round.

Candidates still in the running have until Tuesday 6 p.m. to withdraw in favor of a rival from another political party and thus hope to prevent the victory of a representative of the extreme right.

Indeed, if it obtains an absolute majority of the 577 deputies of the Assembly at the end of the second round on Sunday, the National Rally (RN) of Jordan Bardella will be called upon to form a government, thus putting the extreme right in power in France for the first time since the Second World War.

On Monday, around a hundred candidates from the left or from Emmanuel Macron’s presidential camp who qualified for the second round had already withdrawn, according to a provisional count by theAFP.

Among these at this stage are a majority of representatives of the left-wing alliance New Popular Front (NFP), as well as three ministers.

These candidates are involved in triangular races (three qualified candidates) and came in third place in constituencies where the RN could win.

Three weeks after the earthquake caused by the dissolution of the National Assembly by President Macron, the RN garnered more than 10.6 million votes on Sunday, or 33.1% of the vote, a historic level if we exclude the second round of the 2022 presidential election.

Concerns and congratulations

A result which arouses concern among France’s major European partners.

No one can remain indifferent […] if in our very close partner and best friend, a party which sees Europe as the problem and not the solution comes out on top by a wide margin.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk spoke on Monday of a grand danger for France and Europe.

But others are celebrating, like Italy’s far-right leader Giorgia Meloni, who rejoiced that the demonization does not work anymore.

Vladimir Putin’s Russia, for its part, has indicated that it is following very close to the elections in France.

Thirty-nine far-right MPs, starting with its leading figure Marine Le Pen, were elected in the first round on Sunday.

The NFP obtained 27.99% of the votes and already has 32 elected members. The presidential camp – which had a relative majority in the previous assembly – was routed, in third position with only 20.8% of the votes.

The young president of the RNJordan Bardella, 28, asked the French to give him the keys to power on Sunday.

We need an absolute majorityadded Marine Le Pen, daughter of the historic leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, co-founder in 1972, with two former members of the Waffen-SS, of the National Front (which became RN in 2018).

Obsessed with immigration and Jews, a fierce supporter of French Algeria, Jean-Marie Le Pen has been condemned several times for his excesses. His daughter has launched a strategy for a decade of de-demonization and normalization of the sulphurous party.

Blur in the presidential camp

While the traditional republican front against the extreme right appears less systematic than in the past, the alliance of the left denounces the cacophony within the presidential majority.

We have seven days to prevent France from experiencing a catastrophedeclared Social Democrat MEP Raphaël Glucksmann, calling on all candidates who came in third place to withdraw in the second round.

But for its radical left ally, La France Insoumise (LFI), this will only apply where the RN East came firstsaid its leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

In the presidential camp, the line seems less clear. During a meeting with members of his government on Monday, Mr. Macron did not give them clear instructions, according to several ministerial sources.

But according to one participant, he told them that not a voice should not go to the far rightstressing that the left had mobilized against the RN in 2017 and 2022, which allowed him to be elected president both times.

While several Macron candidates who came third have already announced their withdrawal, some intend to stay. They believe either that they have more reserves of votes than the left, or that their withdrawal would favor the RN.

And the outgoing majority struggles to speak with one voice when it comes to supporting a candidate. LFIa deterrent for centrist voters and even for some within the left, due to the excesses of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, whose party is accused of anti-Semitism.