More than 210 candidates have stood down ahead of France's runoff election as President Emmanuel Macron and a left-wing coalition seek to block the far right, an AFP tally showed on Tuesday. The rivals are hoping that tactical withdrawals ahead of the runoff on Sunday will prevent the far-right National Rally party of Marine Le Pen winning an absolute majority of 289 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly. Read FRANCE 24’s live coverage of the day’s events.
Summary
- Parliamentary candidates qualified to run after Sunday's first-round vote had until 6pm on Tuesday to declare their candidacy or drop out ahead of the second round of the legislative elections set for July 7.
- More than 210 left-wing or Macronist candidates qualified for the run-off round of the legislative elections have already withdrawn in order to block the far right from winning a majority, according to a provisional count by AFP.
- Far-right leader Marine Le Pen urged voters to give the National Rally an absolute majority during the second round of voting on July 7, which would see the party's 28-year-old chief Jordan Bardella become prime minister. It remains uncertain whether the RN could win the 289 seats needed for a majority, withmost projections showing the party on track to win between 250 and 300 seats.
Yesterday's key developments:
- Official results released by the French interior ministry on Monday showed that the National Rally won a resounding victory of 33% of votes in the first round on June 30, with the left-wing New Popular Front coming in second with Roughly 28%, and Macron's ruling centrist coalition in third place with 20%.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP, Reuters)
