France's former Socialist president François Hollande, running under the colors of the left-wing New Front Populaire (NFP) alliance in his old constituency, was elected to the Assemblée Nationale in the second round of parliamentary elections, on Sunday, July 7, ahead of far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party candidate Maïtey Pouget and the incumbent Les Républicains (LR, right) MP, backed by President Emmanuel Macron's coalition, François Dubois, who had refused to withdraw his candidacy despite coming third in the first round.
Hollande had come out on top in the first round in the 1st constituency of the central French department of Corrèze, with 37.63% of votes cast, against the far-right party's candidate (30.89%), and the incumbent right-wing MP (28.64%). His candidacy to become an MP had surprised many, including among the Socialists' leadership. Hollande served as a Socialist MP for this constituency from 1988 to 1993, and then again from 1997 to 2012, before being elected president of France. "An exceptional situation, an exceptional decision," the former president had declared to justify his support for the new alliance of left-wing parties, arguing that this was to prevent the far-right from coming to power, even though he was among those who were critical of the previous left-wing alliance, the NUPES, in 2022.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.