Leftist and centrist parties in France are attempting to join forces to stop Marine Le Pen’s right-wing National Rally party from taking power.
Last Sunday, National Rally won 34% of the vote; the left-wing New Popular Front won 28.12%, and President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party, the Ensemble Coalition, won 20% of the vote. A second vote will be taken on Sunday.
“The second round of a French parliamentary is generally made up largely of run-off duels between the top two candidates in a constituency, but because so many third-placed candidates qualified on Sunday, that set up more than 300 three-way run-offs,” the BBC noted. That would make it easier for a candidate from Le Pen’s party to win.
Thus, at least 200 candidates from the centrist and leftist parties — 134 from the Left and 82 from Macron’s party, according to Le Monde — have withdrawn from the race so that…
