More than 200 candidates pull out in bid to block Le Pen’s RN
‘Republican front’ organises tactical withdrawals ahead of election run-off
Opponents of France’s National Rally (RN) stepped up their bid to block the far-right party from power yesterday as more candidates agreed to pull out of this weekend’s run-off election to avoid splitting the anti-RN vote.
More than 200 candidates have confirmed they will not stand in Sunday’s second-round for France’s 577-seat national parliament, according to local media estimates. They had until 6pm yesterday to make their choice.
With no official list yet released, French media reported that between 214 and 218 third-placed contenders had pulled out of the race in their constituencies. It means there will now be around 108 three-way races, instead of just over 300.
Marine Le Pen’s RN came out well ahead in Sunday’s first-round vote after President Emmanuel Macron’s gamble on a snap election backfired, leaving his centrist camp in a lowly third place behind the RN and a hastily formed leftwing alliance.
But even before the manoeuvring of the last 24 hours to create a “republican front” to block the anti-immigrant, eurosceptic party, it was far from clear the RN could win the 289 seats needed for a majority.
Pollsters calculated the first round put the RN on track for anything between 250-300 seats. But that was before the tactical withdrawals and cross-party calls for voters to back whichever candidate was best placed to defeat the local RN rival.
“The match is not over. We must mobilise all our forces,” the Socialist mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, told France 2. The RN is hostile to further European Union integration and would cut funding to the EU. Human rights groups have raised concerns about how its “national preference” and anti-migrant policies would apply to ethnic minorities, while economists question whether its hefty spending plans are fully funded.
In Warsaw, Polish prime minister Donald Tusk called for pro-EU parties to do more to address the concerns of ordinary voters and counter rising nationalism after talks with his German counterpart Olaf Scholz.
Financial markets gained on Monday on relief that the French far-right had not performed better, but the reaction has been muted by the knowledge that a hung parliament would also risk policy paralysis for the rest of Mr Macron’s presidency till 2027.
There was initial confusion over whether Mr Macron’s allies would stand down in local contests in favour of better-placed rival candidates if they came from the radical left-wing France Unbowed (LFI) party of Jean-Luc Melenchon. However Mr Macron told a closed-door meeting of ministers at the Elysee Palace that the top priority was blocking the RN from power and that LFI candidates could be endorsed if necessary.
The ‘republican front’ has worked before, such as in 2002 when voters of all stripes rallied behind Jacques Chirac to defeat Ms Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie, in a presidential contest.
Ms Le Pen said that the RN would not try to form a government if it did not have a workable majority in parliament. “We cannot agree to form a government if we cannot act,” she said.
“The match is not over. We must mobilise all our forces” Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo