French left, Macron race to prevent far-right takeover

PARIS: Emmanuel Macron´s centrist camp and a left-wing alliance were on Monday battling to prevent the far right from taking an absolute majority and control of government in a historic first after the French president´s gamble on early parliamentary elections backfired.

The far-right National Rally (RN) party of Marine Le Pen won a resounding victory in the first round of the polls on Sunday, with Macron´s centrists trailing in third behind the left-wing New Popular Front coalition.

Le Pen has asked voters to give her party an absolute majority during a second round of voting on July 7 so 28-year-old RN chief Jordan Bardella can become prime minister. But most projections show the RN falling short of an absolute majority, even though the final outcome remains far from certain.

“The extreme right at the threshold of power,” read Monday´s headline in daily Le Monde. Ahead of the second round, Macron´s camp has begun cooperating with the left-wing alliance in the hopes that tactical voting will prevent the RN winning the 289 seats needed for an absolute majority.

Third-place candidates who qualified for the second round have been urged to drop out to present a united front against the far-right. Macron in a written statement on Sunday night urged a “broad” democratic coalition against the far right.