French left, Macron race to prevent far-right takeover

People gather at Republique plaza to protest the far-right National Rally, which came out strongly ahead in first-round legislative elections, Sunday, June 30, 2024.

Emmanuel Macron's centrist camp and a left-wing alliance were battling Monday to prevent the far right from taking an absolute majority and control of France's government, after the president's gamble on early parliamentary elections backfired.

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

Le Pen has urged voters to give the RN an absolute majority during a second round of voting on July 7, which would see the party's 28-year-old chief Jordan Bardella 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.

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, which Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said would be "catastrophic".

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 called in a written statement on Sunday night for a "broad" democratic coalition against the far right, and convened a cabinet meeting Monday to decide a further course of action.

"Let's not be mistaken. It's the far right that's on its way to the highest office, no one else," he said at the meeting, according to one participant....