(Paris) Around a hundred candidates from the left or from the presidential camp who qualified for the second round of the legislative elections in France have already withdrawn on Monday, in order to counter the extreme right, according to a provisional count by AFP.
Published at 12:24 p.m.
These candidates are engaged in triangulars (three qualified candidates), and came in third position in constituencies where the far-right National Rally (RN) party could be able to win on Sunday.
In total, 311 constituencies out of 577 are in a situation of triangular (306) or potential quadrangular (5), including 161 where the RN and its allies came out on top.
Among the candidates who have announced that they are withdrawing at this stage are a majority of representatives of the left-wing alliance New Popular Front (NFP).
For example, in Normandy (West), an NFP candidate withdrew in favor of the former Macronist Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne.
PHOTO FRED TANNEAU, ARCHIVES AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Former Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne
The left also partially put aside its internal dissensions for the occasion, with withdrawals in some constituencies where two candidates were standing (NFP and dissident left), such as in the south of the Paris region or in Marseille (South).
On the side of President Emmanuel Macron’s camp, three minister-candidates have decided to withdraw (Sabrina Agresti-Roubache, Marie Guévenoux, Fadila Khattabi).
During a meeting with members of his government on Monday at midday, Mr. Macron did not give them clear instructions to withdraw, according to several ministerial sources.
But, according to a participant, he told them that “not a single vote” should “go to the extreme right”, recalling that the left had mobilized against the RN in 2017 and in 2022, which allowed it to twice to be elected president.
“We must not be mistaken. It is the extreme right that is on the verge of accessing the highest functions, no one else,” the head of state also declared.
