Candidates Withdraw to Foil French Far Right: France’s left-wing and centrist parties have withdrawn hundreds of candidates from Sunday’s parliamentary elections, aiming to thwart the formation of the country’s first far-right government since World War II. The mass exit occurred before the registration deadline on Tuesday, ahead of the final run-off vote on Sunday. The withdrawing candidates are mostly allies of French President Emmanuel Macron or from left-wing parties.
Macron called for snap parliamentary elections in June after his party’s defeat in the European elections, but the move seems to have backfired. Instead of bolstering the mandate of his centrist Renaissance party, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) won the most seats in the first round of voting on June 30.
Le Pen’s party, which promotes an anti-immigration platform with policies criticized as Islamophobic, aims to win enough seats in the second round of voting to form a government. Le Pen announced on Tuesday that her party would still seek to form a government even if it falls short of the 289-seat absolute majority in the 577-seat National Assembly.
Macron’s centrists and the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) hope to prevent such an outcome, with the president emphasizing to ministers at a closed-door meeting at the Elysee Palace on Tuesday that blocking the RN from power is the top priority. The strategic withdrawal of candidates underscores the urgency of preventing a far-right takeover, which could significantly shift France’s political landscape.
As the elections approach, the nation watches closely, with the withdrawal strategy being a pivotal factor in the final results. The coordinated effort to prevent the far right from gaining power highlights the lengths to which parties will go to maintain the current political balance. With Sunday’s vote looming, all eyes will be on the results to see if the effort to foil the far right succeeds. “Candidates Withdraw to Foil French Far Right” will remain a significant headline as France faces this critical electoral moment.
