French Parties Move to Block Le Pen in Last Election Stretch
- The National Rally and allies are aiming for absolute majority
- Centrist and leftist parties seeking to block the far right
Jordan Bardella, president of National Rally.
Photographer: Nathan Laine/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance and the left-wing New Popular Front have until this evening to strategically pull candidates from France’s final round of voting Sunday in a last-ditch effort to keep a dominant far-right out of power.
The deadline for candidates to file papers to enter the second round is 6 p.m. on Tuesday. So far, 190 candidates had dropped out — 123 from the left and 64 from Macron’s group — according to Le Monde newspaper, in a tactical maneuver to reduce the National Rally’s chances.