The ballot boxes have spoken. For the unsuccessful candidates at the end of the first round of the early legislative elections this Sunday, June 30, the campaign is over. For the others, it continues. Or, more precisely, it restarts this Monday, July 1 after being suspended on June 28 at midnight. Candidates qualified for the second round have until tomorrow, Tuesday, July 2, 6 p.m., or a little less than two days, to submit their candidacy in the prefectures adjacent to their constituency.
Time for responsibility for some. That of withdrawing or not his candidacy so as not to disperse the votes to the detriment of a candidate whose chances of winning are greater. Thus, the various right-wing candidate for the 5th constituency of Saône-et-Loire, Gilles Platret, seizes this deadline as an invitation to reflection. “The night door advises”, indicated on his Facebook page the mayor of Chalon-sur-Saône, who came fourth with 19% of the votes cast and narrowly qualified.
A choice made all the more difficult by the fact that the Republicans refused to give voting instructions or withdrawal instructions for the second round. Within a presidential camp which maintains several lines of conduct, Gabriel Attal asked the candidates running under the Ensemble banner to withdraw in favor of the Republican candidate best placed against the National Rally in the event of a triangular. And this even if the candidate in question is rebellious.
The dysphonia of the presidential majority
While several Macronists have followed suit, like Clément Beaune, defeated in his Paris constituency, and the Minister of Industry Roland Lescure, other bigwigs of the presidential majority have adopted a slightly different line. Like Bruno Le Maire or Edouard Philippe. The mayor of Le Havre and head of Horizons believes that no vote should “be cast for the candidates of the National Rally, nor for those” of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s party.
The latter, as early as Sunday evening, called on the candidates invested by La France insoumise (LFI) under the NFP label to withdraw in the event of a ballot favorable to the Frontist party. Last week already, the three allies of LFI – the Socialist Party (PS), Les Verts-Europe écologie (EELV), and the French Communist Party (PCF), La France insoumise (LFI) – had called in a column published in the columns of Le Monde for withdrawal “to block the extreme right”. The rebellious had been more evasive until yesterday evening.
Thus, if some 300 triangular races were announced at the end of the first round this Sunday, their number risks melting by tomorrow evening. And could thus allow the presidential camp to save a few constituencies. One thing is certain: the candidates have little time to convince. Online voting opens on Wednesday July 3 at 12 noon for French residents abroad, who will have until the following day at 6 p.m. to choose their deputy. In mainland France, the glue buckets and leaflets will have to be put away on Friday at midnight, the end of the campaign between the two rounds.