France Elections, Lists Presented for 2nd Round: 218 Withdrawals in Anti-RN Function

The deadline for submitting lists, and therefore for defining alliances, expired at 6 p.m. in France: 218 people dropped out in an anti-Rassemblement National function, while 81 triangular and 2 quadrangular remain standing. President Emmanuel Macron, in view of the second round, had asked to study each individual electoral college in the country to find alliances “case by case”, including with candidates from France Insoumise (Lfi), to block the advance of the Rassemblement National (RN) of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella. This was reported Bfmtvafter the far-right alliance won the first round with 33.15%, while Macron stopped at 20.4% and the left united in the New Popular Front of the gauche reached 28%. Meanwhile, after its controversial statements on an alleged “administrative coup” by Macron’s camp a few days before the second round on July 7 through a wave of appointments before a possible cohabitation, the Elysée has invited the leader of the Rassemblement National (RN) Marine Le Pen to show “moderation” and “cold blood”. “For 66 years – the presidency pointed out – every week there are appointments and changes, especially in the summer, regardless of the political situation”. And this is not expected to change “in the coming months”, the Elysée added.

The final results of the first round and the projections of the seats

There are a total of 577 seats to be allocated in the same number of constituencies and the absolute majority is set at 289. In the first round, the Rassemblement National and its far-right allies obtained 33.15% with a potential seat range of 255-295. Then: New Popular Front of the left 27.99% (120-140 seats); Ensemble (Macronian majority) 20.04% (90-125 seats); Les Républicains/right-wing centrists UDI/Others of the right 10.74% (35-45 seats); Others, ecologists, regionalists 2.0% (10-14 seats); Others of the left or dissidents of the Popular Front 1.5% (11-12 seats); Far left (Lutte Ouvrière and others) 1.5%; Several centrists and dissidents of the Ensemble majority 1.0%; Sovereignists and other far-right 0.5% (0-1 seats); Reconquête (Eric Zemmour) 0.5%.

Over 200 ‘third-party’ candidates have withdrawn ahead of runoff

The number of anti-RN candidates withdrawing from the “triangular” elections ahead of the legislative runoff has now reached 218. These are candidates from the left and the majority who – having come in third – have withdrawn their candidacy to focus their votes on the opponent of the far-right representative with the best chance of winning. The number of triangular candidates has therefore been reduced to a third of the 306 expected after the first round on Sunday. Of the 218 candidates who have withdrawn, 130 belong to the left of the New Popular Front, 82 are from the Macronists and the center united under the Ensemble label, 2 from the Républicains, 3 from the Rassemblement National and one from the independent lists. For the RN, the battle to obtain the absolute majority of 289 seats is now much more difficult and the road uphill. Among the last to officially withdraw are the undersecretary Patricia Mirallès and the deputy of the Macronist group Gilles Le Gendre. Also abandoning the race were the three ministers of Ensemble Sabrina Agresti-Roubache, Marie Guévenoux and Fadila Khattabi. Also in Calvados, the candidate of Lfi withdrew to favor the election against RN of former Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. Same approach in Tourcoing, where the candidate nominated by NFP withdrew to avoid the risk of seeing RN defeat Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.

The framework of alliances

Emmanuel Macron was the first to speak after Sunday’s results: “In front of the Rassemblement National, the time has come for a broad, clearly democratic and republican union for the second round”. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, from the left, thundered: “Not a single vote will go to the RN, wherever we are third, we will withdraw our candidate”. With the consequent indication to vote for the local opponent of RN, in this case the Macronian majority. From which, however, after the president’s words, no equally clear indications have arrived. Even Edouard Philippe, one of the leaders of the majority, has given indications decidedly contrasting with those of Macron, inviting his militants “to desist to avoid the election of RN or LFI candidates, La France Insoumise”. Since LFI is by far the strongest party in the left-wing coalition, the dam of desistance would give way wherever there are candidates from the majority who desisted but whose votes would not go to the Front Populaire if the local candidate was from LFI. Aware of the enormous stakes and the negative perception of La France Insoumise among centrists and the moderate right, Glucksmann, who brought the Socialist Party back to third place in the European elections, raised the alarm: “We have 7 days to avoid a catastrophe in France”. The Republicans, who did not follow Eric Ciotti in his agreement with Marine Le Pen, and who nevertheless obtained a considerable 10% of the vote, have already announced, for their part, that they will not deliver votes to their voters.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE SKY TG24 WHATSAPP CHANNEL