French left and centrist parties unite to block far-right National Rally

Candidates from France's centrist and left-wing parties have rallied together to try and prevent Marine Le Pen's National Rally from gaining power.

The first round of legislative elections on 30 June saw the National Rally — fronted by party president Jordan Bardella — secure the most votes yet fail to win an outright victory that would have made it France's first far-right government since World War II.

Candidates, including several Cabinet ministers, from French President Emmanuel Macron's centrist party and the left-wing alliance of the New Popular Front have pulled out to favour candidates most likely to succeed when pitted against a National Rally opponent.

Some 218 candidates who were supposed to compete in the second round of the elections have pulled out, according to French newspaper Le Monde.

Of those, 130 were from the left and 82 came from Macron's Ensemble party reported the French daily.

“We have one objective today, to deny an absolute majority to the National Rally,” commented François Ruffin of the hard-left France Unbowed party that is part of the new National Front alliance along with French Greens, Socialists and Communists.

The decision to pull out could determine the outcome of the second round of voting, due to take place on Sunday.

French politics were thrust into chaos after Macron decided to call for a snap election following defeat in the European elections, where the National Rally secured the most votes.

His gamble, however, appeared to have backfired when National Rally surged to first place in the first round of the elections held last Sunday, according to results published by the French interior ministry.

Although the party came out first, the far-right showed it could stop short of having enough to secure a majority in the 577-seat lower chamber of French parliament.

Macron’s Ensemble coalition reached a fraction short of 21% of the vote — down from where he was at the equivalent stage of the 2022 legislative elections but higher than his result in the recent European elections.

If National Rally were to secure an absolute majority they would have the right to appoint a prime minister and cabinet, however Macron himself has ruled out resigning as president.