France
Hundreds of candidates withdraw from Sunday’s parliamentary elections in France to foil far-right march
In a bid to prevent the formation of the country's first far-right government, France's left-wing and centrist parties have withdrawn hundreds of candidates from Sunday’s parliamentary elections, media reports said.
The mass exit came before a Tuesday registration deadline before the final run-off vote on Sunday, reported Al Jazeera news channel.
The people who resigned were mostly allies of French President Emmanuel Macron or from left-wing parties.
Macron called for a snap poll after his party performed poorly in European elections.
Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) party put up a strong show by winning most of the seats in the first round polling held on June 30.
Le Pen’s party, which portrays itself as an anti-immigration platform, has expressed hope of winning enough seats in the second round to form the government.
Le Pen told Al Jazeera on Tuesday the party will still seek to form a government even if it falls just short of the 289-seat absolute majority in the 577-seat National Assembly.
Macron’s centrists and the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) hope they can prevent such an event, with the president telling a closed-door meeting of ministers at the Elysee Palace on Tuesday that the top priority was blocking the RN from power, the news channel reported.
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