A large-scale movement with uncertain repercussions. In less than 48 hours, the 221 candidates who, according to Le Monde, withdrew from the second round of snap parliamentary elections, have changed the nature of the electoral confrontation between Marine Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement National (RN) and the other political parties.

After the first round on, June 30, the Interior Ministry had counted that the second round would be made up of 306 three-way run-offs, five four-ways and 190 duels. By Wednesday morning, there were only 94 three-way contests left, one four-way and 405 duels, according to a provisional count by Le Monde, based on the candidates' announcements. The RN will be pitted against the left-wing Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) alliance in 159 of these, while 133 elections will see RN contenders run against candidates from President Emmanuel Macron's camp.

The electoral domination of Le Pen's party with support from its ally, breakaway Les Républicains (LR, conservative) leader Eric Ciotti, prompted the left-wing alliance and Macron's coalition of parties to dictate a common slogan for the final stretch of the campaign: Block the far right.

But there remain some divides. While the NFP indicated that it would withdraw all its candidates that ranked third, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal specified that withdrawals within his camp should only take place in favor of candidates who have "chosen republican values," and where "there is a risk of victory for the far right," leaving a possible freedom of interpretation to those concerned, as Macron supporters are split over the definition of the republican front.

The left rejected that ambiguity in the face of the danger posed by the RN potentially coming to power. On Tuesday evening, former Socialist president François Hollande, a candidate for a seat in the central-France Corrèze region who came out on top in the first round, said that "the republican front has resurfaced, albeit with pain and suffering for the majority in particular, but with clarity for the left." The left should "be proud of having blocked the far right," despite "no doubt a loss of seats," due to the massive withdrawals in the three-way run-offs. "It was the price we had to pay," he admitted.

The NFP withdrew 129 candidates out of the 415 who qualified for the second round. The instructions issued on Sunday evening by all the leaders of the left-wing alliance were applied. The NFP dropped out 90 times when an RN candidate came first, and 33 times when the far right came second. In a northern district, for example, Leslie Mortreux, LFI (radical left) candidate for the NFP, withdrew to enable Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin to beat Bastien Verbrugghe (RN), as the gap between the two men is of only 1.7 points.

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