(Paris) More than 150 candidates from the left or from the presidential camp qualified for the second round of the legislative elections in France have already withdrawn on Monday, in order to counter the extreme right, according to a provisional count by AFP.
The list is expected to evolve until Tuesday at 6 p.m. (12 p.m. Eastern Time), the deadline set for qualified candidates to decide whether or not to continue in the second round, which will take place Sunday.
The 155 withdrawals recorded by AFP are all by candidates involved in three-way races (three qualified candidates), and most of them came in third place in constituencies where the far-right National Rally (RN) party could be in a position 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, or in the North one in favor of the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin.
PHOTO FRED TANNEAU, ARCHIVES AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Former Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne
Others have even sacrificed themselves for the benefit of the right, for example an environmentalist in Auvergne (centre) in favour of Laurent Wauquiez.
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).
Of the 155 withdrawals recorded, 104 are linked to the NFP. This is more than double the number of President Emmanuel Macron’s camp, 48 of whom have thrown in the towel at this stage.
Among these last three ministers, Sabrina Agresti-Roubache, Marie Guévenoux and 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 one participant, he told them that “not a single vote” should “go to the far right”, recalling that the left had mobilized against the RN in 2017 and in 2022, which allowed him to be elected president both times.
“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.