French elections: how the final round is shaping up

France votes Sunday in the final round of snap elections called by President Emmanuel Macron in a bid for a "clarification" of the political landscape.

But after the first round that saw the far-right emerge front-runner in a vote deciding the make-up of the French parliament, or National Assembly, the situation is all but clear.

Some 76 lawmakers were elected in the first round, almost all from the far-right National Rally (RN) or left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition, leaving 501 seats up for grabs on July 7.

Here is a brief explainer on the state of play using data from an AFP count based on information from the French interior ministry:

- Two-, three-, four-way races -

The run-offs in the second round will be mostly head-to-head and three-way contests.

There are 90 three-way contests to be decided on Sunday, two four-way contests, and the remaining 408 seats will be two-way races.

Due to a quirk in electoral rules, leftwinger Davy Rimane is having to stand alone in one of French Guiana's two constituencies.

Of the two-way contests, 146 will be between RN candidates and the left-wing NFP coalition, while 124 will put RN candidates against those from the Macron camp.

Other two-way contests will be between candidates on the left and the presidential camp.

- Strategic withdrawals -

In the 48 hours that followed the first round results on Sunday, 224 candidates pulled out of the race before the deadline on Tuesday evening.

The move reflected a strategic attempt to block the RN from winning seats by forming a broad "Republican Front".

Some 58 percent of those withdrawals came from candidates of the NFP coalition and 36 percent from Macron's camp.

- Reluctant bow-outs -

But the decision to withdraw was not always easy, notably for presidential camp candidates whose pull-out meant backing NFP candidates from the France Unbowed (LFI) hard-left party.

The LFI is accused by its critics of extremism and failing to condemn Hamas after the October 7 attack on Israel.

Heavyweights in the Macron camp who have spoken out against helping LFI candidates include Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire and former prime minister Edouard Philippe.

On the NFP side, there have also been some tough choices.

This includes a withdrawal by the NFP candidate to give the best chance to another former prime minister Elisabeth Borne, who had come under fire from the left as she steered through the highly unpopular pension reforms in 2022.

But it is unclear how this reconfiguring of the landscape heading into the second round will impact voters, who face their most polarising choices in recent history.

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