Twenty-two years after the earthquake of April 21, 2002, the Republican front is a fight that is no longer obvious. This is evidenced by the procrastination and pressure that was required to convince many candidates for the parliamentary seat who came in third place in the first round of the legislative election on Sunday, June 30, to withdraw and block the National Rally (RN). Monday evening 1is July, at 11 p.m., there remained less than half of the 306 triangular and 3 of the 5 quadrangular counted, after the first round. The left had withdrawn from nearly 120 constituencies, and the presidential coalition from about 60 territories, according to the calculations of the Monde Tuesday morning.
Follow our live: 2024 Legislative Elections: Among the 169 current withdrawals before the second round, a very strong majority of left-wing candidates
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Only the New Popular Front (NFP) has clearly announced that in the event of a three-way race, it would withdraw its candidates. The presidential coalition, however, has remained vague. Invited to TF1’s “8pm” news on Monday evening, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal did not remove the ambiguities, indicating that he wanted “to prevent the National Rally from having an absolute majority” but conditioning withdrawals. “Faced with a candidate who has chosen Republican values, we withdraw”he proclaims, while the executive has continued to exclude La France Insoumise (LFI) from “the republican arc”.
The marathon between the opposition and the presidential coalition began on the evening of Sunday, June 30. The socialists spent the night identifying the territories. They counted 190 constituencies where the RN is a danger: in 115, it is up to the left to withdraw, and in 75, to Emmanuel Macron’s camp, analyzes the party’s national secretary, Sébastien Vincini. The stakes are crucial: the performance of the socialists (they hope to go from 30 to around 70 seats) depends on the attitude of Renaissance, Horizons and the MoDem.
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MEP Pierre Jouvet takes the lead, and tests the waters with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné, and the former Macronist minister Julien Denormandie. The first secretary of the Socialist Party (PS), Olivier Faure, takes charge of contacting the head of the MoDem, François Bayrou. On the ground, concern is growing. Monday 1is July morning, in the 5the constituency of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, on the lands of Béarnais, the outgoing deputy, Florence Lasserre, is relentless. She insists on staying in the race even though she came in third place, behind the candidate Colette Capdevielle – a socialist. In the PS, there is astonishment. François Bayrou is suspected of wanting to protect his own territory. The candidate will end up beating a retreat.
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