Candidates still in the running have until Tuesday 6 p.m. to decide to withdraw and thus drastically reduce the number of three-way races, which on Sunday, June 30, stood at more than 300 due to the high turnout in the first round (66.7%). The navy blue wave swept in with more than 10.6 million votes, or 33.1% of the vote, a historic level – excluding the second round of the 2022 presidential election.
Key information to remember
⇒ Legislative: more than 185 withdrawals to avoid an absolute RN majority
⇒ Vote RN or LFI, “two disguised Frexites” for Bruno Le Maire
⇒ Xavier Bertrand wants a government of “republican revival”
Legislative: 185 withdrawals to avoid an absolute RN majority
After dozens of withdrawals, the starting line for the second round of the legislative elections will be known on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m., and should, year in and year out, confirm the formation of a “republican front” against the National Rally. Withdrawals by left-wing and Macronist candidates multiplied on Monday, the day after the National Rally’s unprecedented score in the first round, to prevent the far right from obtaining the absolute majority that Jordan Bardella has once again demanded by denouncing “alliances of dishonor.”
Some 185 candidates involved in three-way races have already withdrawn on Monday in order to counter the RN, according to a provisional count by the newspaper. The world. The goal is to prevent the RN from obtaining an absolute majority on Sunday evening in the second round. If it were achieved, the opponents of the far-right party would then face the eminently complex task of forming a majority or an alternative government capable of leading France.
Voting RN or LFI, “two disguised Frexites” for Bruno Le Maire
Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire has warned against voting for the National Rally (RN) or La France Insoumise (LFI) in the second round of the legislative elections, which he likens to “two disguised Frexites” in the edition of Le Figaro to be published on Tuesday.
“Let’s be clear: the extremes exclude us from European construction, by renegotiating our European contribution for some, by flouting the budgetary rules of the eurozone for others. These are two disguised Frexits (France’s exit from the European Union, Editor’s note)”, asserted the man who has occupied Bercy since 2017. “I do not put an equal sign between the RN”, which came out on top in the first round of the legislative elections on Sunday, and LFI, “which have different histories”, qualified Bruno Le Maire.
Viktor Orban “optimistic” after RN’s score in first round of French legislative elections
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose country has taken over the rotating EU presidency, expressed “optimism” on Monday after the National Rally (RN) party’s score in the first round of France’s legislative elections.
“Things cannot continue like this in Brussels, they have to change. That’s why the Belgian prime minister fell, that’s why the French government fell,” Viktor Orban said in an interview with Hungarian public television. “The first source of our optimism is that people want change. But the bureaucrats in Brussels think differently, they don’t want change,” he added.
An RN candidate under guardianship, ineligible… qualified for the second round
The National Rally candidate in the 2nd constituency of Jura has qualified for the second round of the legislative elections… even though his placement under guardianship makes him ineligible, we learned Monday from concordant sources. Tierry Mosca, 65, has been placed under the guardianship of the Departmental Union of Family Associations (Udaf) of Jura in November 2023, a judicial source told AFP, confirming information published by the daily newspaper Le Progrès.
A procedure targeting him for “undeclared work” was also dismissed in early June due to a “deficient mental state”, it was added. This did not prevent the RN candidate from finishing second in the first round of the legislative elections in the 2nd constituency of Jura on Sunday with 32.76% of the vote, behind the outgoing MP Marie-Christine Dalloz (38.59%) and ahead of the communist candidate Evelyne Ternant (24.75%). The latter announced her withdrawal in the second round to block the RN.
Xavier Bertrand wants a government of “republican revival”
The LR president of Hauts-de-France Xavier Bertrand demanded on Monday a “republican surge government” as an alternative to an executive in the hands of the National Rally or to “a backroom coalition”, to get France “out of the impasse into which Emmanuel Macron has plunged it”. “The only thing that is possible is to understand that there are other alternatives than a majority with an RN government or a backroom coalition”, explained the former minister of Nicolas Sarkozy on TF1.
“I want a government of republican revival,” he said, also presenting it as “a provisional government of the Republic as existed at a time when it was necessary to rebuild.” The leader of the right-wing party Les Républicains, who called for a vote on Sunday in the second round of the legislative elections for “the hundred” candidates from his party and independents, considered that the task of this government would be “clearly to rebuild our country.”