French election candidates withdraw in bid to block far right

French voters are waiting to see the full line-up for the second round of parliamentary elections, as scores of candidates stood aside in order to help defeat the far-right National Rally (RN).

Parties have until 18:00 (17:00 BST) Tuesday evening to register contenders for Sunday.

Only then will it be clear how many from the left and centre have abandoned the race in the hope of unifying the anti-RN vote.

Last Sunday’s first round produced a big victory for the party of Marine Le Pen, which - with allies - won around 33% of the vote.

A broad left-wing alliance came second, and President Emmanuel Macron’s centrists third.

But Ms Le Pen’s chances of winning an outright majority in the 577-seat National Assembly have been dented by the blocking tactics of her party’s enemies.

In more than half of constituencies – around 300 – three candidates qualified from the first round of voting (nearly everywhere else it was just two).

If in these constituencies one of the two non-RN runners stands aside, this increases the chances of the RN candidate being defeated.

By midday Tuesday around 200 candidates from the left and centre were understood to have taken the step.

The left-wing New Popular Front (NPF) – which comprises everyone from centre-left social democrats to far-left anti-capitalists – issued instructions to all of its third-placed candidates to step down and let a centrist reap the anti-RN vote.

The NPF is thus helping two senior pro-Macron MPs – former prime minister Elisabeth Borne and Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin – to win in their constituencies in Normandy and the north.

Conversely a pro-Macron candidate has stood down in order to help radical left-winger François Ruffin defeat the RN candidate in the northern city of Amiens.

The RN’s 28 year-old president – and hopeful for prime minister – Jordan Bardella condemned these arrangements as the fruit of an “alliance of dishonour” between parties that until now have been at each other’s throats.

Instructions to candidates from Mr Macron’s centrist bloc have been more ambiguous than the NPF’s.

Though Mr Macron himself and Prime Minister Gabriel Attal have called for “no vote for the RN”, some in his camp believe its far-left component makes the NPF equally unpalatable.

Senior figures like Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe – both originally from the centre-right – are refusing to issue instructions to vote systematically against the RN.

RN insiders told Le Figaro newspaper that its opponents’ tactics did not bother them.

“On the contrary, it’s good news. The overall message they’re giving out is that it’s the entire system which is against us... It’s another big stitch-up and our voters are tired of it,” one said.

RN leaders have said they will not attempt to form a government unless they are given an outright majority in the parliament in Sunday’s vote.

They say they do not want to be given the appearance of power, if the reality is they cannot pass laws.

However on Tuesday Marine Le Pen qualified this, when she said that a lower majority would be good enough – if it does not fall too far short of the 289 member threshold.

Speaking on French radio she said that winning around 270 deputies would allow her party to open talks with individual MPs from other groups in the hope of persuading them into an accord.

“We are going to say to them: ‘Are you ready to participate with us in a new majority? Are you ready to vote a confidence motion? Are you ready to vote for the budget?’” she said.

She cited as possible targets independent MPs of right and left, and part of the conservative Republicans party which won 10% of the vote on Sunday.

If the RN wins an absolute majority on Sunday, Mr Bardella would be asked by President Macron to form a government – and there would then begin a tense period of “cohabitation” between two political enemies.

Under the French Fifth Republic constitution, power would flow away from Mr Macron to the prime minister’s office because “the government determines and conducts the policy of the nation”.

However Mr Macron would probably seek to retain powers in the areas of foreign policy and defence, which from precedent – and not from the actual wording of the constitution – have remained the preserve of the Elysée in past cohabitations.

Marine Le Pen also accused the president Tuesday of carrying out an “administrative coup d’état” because she had heard he was preparing a number of key appointments in the police and army just days ahead of the vote.

“When you want to counter the results of an election by nominating your people to jobs, and when that stops [the government] from being able to carry out policies which the French people have asked for... I call that an administrative coup d’état."

“I hope it is only rumour,” she added.