The left and the Macronists cling to the 'cordon sanitaire' in France to avoid Le Pen's absolute majority | International

A republican front, the French version of the cordon sanitaire against the far right, This Tuesday it was rebuilt to prevent Marine Le Pen's National Regroupment (RN) from obtaining an absolute majority of seats in the parliamentary elections next Sunday and forming a government. Despite everything, it is not as strong as in the past, and it is not certain that it will achieve its goal. Le Pen, who has softened her program and her image Over the years it is no longer seen as the threat it once was.

But in the elections in which the far right is closer to power, a large part of the political arc – not everyone, but the centre and the left – has responded. A total of 218 candidates for deputy, from a list of 311, They refused to appear in the second round when they faced triangular elections with three candidates in their districts. The aim is to concentrate the votes on the one who is best placed to defeat the RN.

The final number of resignations, announced at 6 p.m. Tuesday, represents more than two-thirds of the constituencies that had a runoff with more than two qualified candidates. It is an indicator of the ability of parties to support rivals for a greater good they consider: defeating the far right. And it could complicate Le Pen’s objectives.

According to the count, 131 candidates from the left-wing New Popular Front coalition withdrew to concentrate the vote on a centrist or moderate-right candidate. The World. And 82 of the outgoing parliamentary majority, linked to President Emmanuel Macron, are giving up in favor of a left-wing candidate. They are less than leftbut the figure is significant and responds to the call of the interviewed Macron for “a long, clearly democratic and republican union” against the far right.

In the Macronist camp, sixteen candidates have preferred to continue their campaign, given the harmfulness of their left-wing rival for France as their far-right. On the left, seven follow. But those who join the union against the far-right are not only centrist or leftist in nature. In the Macron camp, there are nine candidates from Horizons, a moderate right-wing party integrated into the presidential coalition. And two from Los Republicanos (LR), the traditional right-wing party, although at least one did not give voting instructions.

A large number of candidates who drop out do not give voting instructions. The unknown is the effect of this Republican front on February 7. There will be less than a hundred constituencies left with a triangular final in which no one wanted to withdraw.

In the first round of the parliamentary elections last Sunday, Le Pen's RN won with 33.1%, followed by the New Popular Front with 28% and the candidacy of the Macronist Ensemble with 20%. The result places the far right, which came first in 296 constituencies, as the favorite to be the force with the most deputies in the new National Assembly. But it does not guarantee that an absolute majority of 289 seats will be achieved.

The Republican front, if it works and voters concentrate their votes on the RN candidates, could thwart this absolute majority that Le Pen says is necessary to implement her program. In statements to the France Inter network, the leader of the RN claimed the majority: “We cannot accept going to government if we cannot act.” But he admitted that his party would not be able to reach 289 seats on its own, and then he would look for allies: “From the moment we have 270 deputies, we still need 19, and we will go and find the others, and we will ask them if 'they are willing to participate in a new majority for a new policy.'”

The Republican Front was launched in the late 1980s, at the height of Jean-Marie Le Pen’s National Front, and served to keep that party and its successor, the RN, out of power. It helped conservative Jacques Chirac defeat Le Pen Sr. in the 2002 presidential election by garnering votes from the left; and in 2017 and 2022 for centrist Emmanuel Macron, who defeated Le Pen’s daughter.

Over time, this has weakened, as evidenced by the presidential elections, which pitted a moderate candidate against a far-right candidate. In 2002, Chirac defeated Le Pen with 82% of the vote. In 2017, Macron defeated his daughter with 66%. Five years later, the lead was reduced and he won with 58.5%. Everything indicates that fewer and fewer French people are prepared to vote for a candidate who is not their own, in order to stop the far right.

The decision to abandon or not abandon these candidacies with fewer options has led to intense debates between the parties of the presidential bloc. Some, like Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, insisted: “Not one vote should go to the National Rally.” But other Macronists believed that it was necessary to weigh “case by case” in each district whether to withdraw or maintain the candidacies. Others, like Édouard Philippe, Macron’s former Prime Minister and who wants to succeed him, declared: “No vote for the RN candidates or for those of France Insoumise.” La France Insoumise (LFI) is the radical left party led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

Philippe, at the head of the moderate right-wing party Horizons, authorized his candidates with these words to withdraw when there was another socialist, environmentalist or communist candidate in the triangular party besides the RN. But not from LFI, accused by the moderate of anti-Semitism and create chaos in parliament and on the streets. The Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, said: “The RN is a danger to the Republic. LFI is a danger to the nation.” This is also the position of Los Republicanos, the traditional right-wing party, which today is split in two: the president, During the campaign, Éric Ciotti already took the step of allying himself with Le Pen's RN.

According to some forecasts, the high number of resignations and the concentration of votes against the far right could prevent the RN from obtaining an absolute majority. It would be a success for the Republican front, proof of that poor iron health. But it is not clear whether voters will follow the instructions of the parties they voted for in the first round. That is, the Republican front agreed upon by the parties extends to the electorate.

“I no longer believe in the Republican front,” declared Louis Aliot, leader of the RN and mayor of Perpignan.I was elected in Perpignan, alone against everyone, left and right. “The voters no longer respond to the slogans.”

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