In districts where the Rassemblement National (RN) qualified in first or second place in the first round of France's snap elections, 33 candidates from other parties have decided to stay in the race rather than support a better-placed candidate to have a better chance at beating the far-right party in three- or four-way second rounds. What were the motivations of those who chose to break away from the usual "republican front" against the far right? Le Monde's Les Décodeurs team takes a closer look, party by party.

Macron's coalition takes issue with some radical left candidates

The presidential coalition, Ensemble, has not been particularly clear in its instructions. On the evening of the first round of voting on Sunday, June 30, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal called for the withdrawal of Ensemble's third-placed candidates who by staying in the race "would result in the election of an RN MP against another candidate who defends the values of the republic." Subsequently, the campaign team clarified that this order would apply even when withdrawing in favor of a candidate from the radical left party La France Insoumise (LFI). But speaking Monday evening on television channel TF1, Attal left it unclear when he stated that "when faced with a candidate who has chosen republican values, we withdraw," even though the government has repeatedly excluded LFI from the "republican arc."

In detail, according to our count, 16 candidates from the coalition and its centrist allies decided to stand against a far-right candidate and a left-wing candidate despite coming third in the first round. In 10 of those constituencies, Ensemble faces an RN or RN-backed candidate and a candidate from LFI, the most radical branch of the left-wing coalition. This demonstrates the extent to which the presidential party's instruction to look at the profile of LFI candidates on a "case-by-case" basis was applied.

• Three Ensemble candidates still running against Greens or Socialists

Yet in three cases, Ensemble candidates refused to withdraw even though a candidate from the left-wing Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) coalition was ahead of them and was not part of LFI but of the Greens or Socialists. These parties are not suspected, in the eyes of the outgoing majority, of being outside the "republican arc."

In the 14^th constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône, where the candidate of the alliance between LR and the RN, Gérault Verny, came first with 31.65% of the vote, ahead of the Socialist candidate from the NFP, Jean-David Ciot (29.48%), Ensemble candidate Anne-Laurence Petel has decided to keep running. Claiming to have secured the agreement of Attal and the head of the Renaissance party Stéphane Séjourné, Petel justified her decision by the fact that she considers herself "best placed" to win back the votes of the LR candidate eliminated in her constituency with 5.6% of the vote.

A certain amount of confusion reigned in the 8^th constituency of the Rhône. After announcing that he was withdrawing his candidacy, Ensemble candidate Dominique Despras ultimately filed it with the prefecture on Tuesday evening... then claimed that he withdrew it again to avoid a four-way race. On Wednesday afternoon, however, he was included in the list of official candidates registered by the Interior Ministry.

• "Neither LFI nor RN"

The argument of a candidacy "against the extremes" was taken up this week by many candidates in the presidential alliance. In the 1^st constituency of Seine-et-Marne, where the LFI candidate came out on top on Sunday, incumbent MoDem MP Aude Luquet said that staying in the race "meets an expectation not to vote either far right or far left." The same justification was used by Hervé Prononce (Horizons-Ensemble), who said he was "in line with [former prime minister and head of Horizons] Edouard Philippe" in continuing to run against the RN and LFI in the 1^st first constituency of the Puy-de-Dôme, where LFI candidate Marianne Maximi came out on top with 38.1% of the vote, far ahead of the RN (27.5%) and Horizons (24.1%).

In two cases, Ensemble candidates decided to stand when an RN candidate had come out on top in the first round, running the risk of electing a far-right MP:

• In Val-d'Oise, where RN candidate Anne Sicard came out on top (33.65%), incumbent Renaissance MP Emilie Chandler decided to stay on despite coming third (25.46%) behind LFI candidate Maximillien Jules-Arthur (30.8%), backed by the NFP. Sicard justified her decision by the fact that "mayors, associations and residents asked me to remain as a candidate in order to reject the extremes," describing the RN and LFI as equal threats.
• In Alpes-Maritimes, incumbent Horizons MP Graig Monetti decided to stand despite being in third place (22.79%) behind RN-backed Eric Ciotti (41.04%) and LFI's Olivier Salerno (26.62%). Monetti believes he is the only one "able to rally enough support" to beat Ciotti, thanks in particular to the carryover of votes from the defeated LR candidate. Above all, he confirmed that he had not withdrawn because Salerno, an NFP candidate, belonged to LFI. "If I had had the opportunity to face a democratic Socialist, Green or even Communist candidate, I would have withdrawn," he declared on BFM-TV.

• Some candidates see "no risk of RN"

Several candidates in Macron's camp considered it unnecessary to withdraw, believing that there was no real risk of an RN victory in their constituency. Coming third in the 9^th constituency of Haute-Garonne, Renaissance candidate Florian Delrieu decided to keep running, believing that his constituency presents no RN risk. "Christine Arrighi came well ahead [the Green-NFP candidate obtained 47.5% of the vote], almost elected in the first round. There is no RN risk here," Delrieu told Actu.fr.

The same applies in the 2^nd constituency of the Nord, where incumbent MP Ugo Bernalicis received 47.3% of the vote in the first round, and where Renaissance candidate Violette Salanon (20.8%, behind RN candidate Philippe Guérar and his 21.9%) decided to stay for the second round.

Within the Nouveau Front Populaire and its allies: LFI less strict against the right

At the end of the first round, LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon was very clear: "Nowhere will we allow the RN to win, and that's why, in [districts] where it came out on top while we came in third, we will withdraw our candidacy." With one peculiar exception, LFI upheld this stance. But some of its candidates stayed in the race when the RN came second.

• A far-right double-header

Only once has a third-placed LFI candidate held their ground against a first-place RN candidate, but the case of the 6^th Hérault constituency is atypical. Third-place LFI candidate Magali Crozier was instructed to stand, she explained to Midi Libre, because the runner-up, Emmanuelle Ménard (right-wing independent), is historically close to the RN. Faced with two far-right candidates, she is holding on, but knows her chances are "minimal."

• Am RN victory deemed unlikely

In some constituencies where the RN only came in second place, some third-placed candidates decided to stay in the race. This is the case for LFI's Cédric Briolais in the 10^th constituency of Yvelines: RN candidate Thomas du Chalard (28.2%) was beaten there by Minister Delegate Aurore Bergé and has, in Briolais' view, only a "negligible" chance of victory. These choices are sometimes contested by supporters, due to the RN's potential vote transfers from the LR and far-right Reconquête! parties.

• Reprisals against Les Républicains

LFI candidates who persist against the RN most often do so in constituencies where LR came out on top. This choice is partly a retaliation, as "LR did not systematically withdraw its candidate when the Nouveau Front Populaire was ahead," asserted Ismaël Stevenson in Le Progrès. After initially withdrawing, Stevenson ended up maintaining his candidacy in the 5^th constituency of Loire.

• A visibility strategy

In certain extreme configurations, such as a four-way vote in Vendée where no qualified candidate withdrew, the party knows the race is "not winnable." But it believes that in these cases, for strategic purposes, "it is important for the left to be represented," local candidate Julie Mariel-Goard explained to Ouest-France, with a view to future elections.

Les Républicains: A very marginal republican front

Few candidates from the mainstream right found themselves in a position to help block the far right. Only one decided to pull out in a three-way runoff facing the RN and LFI: Régis Sarazin, in the 6^th constituency of Seine-et-Marne, who did so in the name of the "values of our democracy." The others stood their ground, sometimes against other NFP candidates, with arguments testifying more to a rejection of the NFP alliance than to the prospect of an RN majority in the Assemblée Nationale.

• LFI and its allies considered "extreme"

Among the arguments often deployed by LR candidates was the "dangerous" nature of the LFI agenda, stated Fabrice Brun, a candidate in the 3^rd constituency of Ardèche. As part of a "neither-nor" strategy, François Durovray believes he is "pushing back the extremes" in the 8^th constituency of Essonne. This reasoning also applies to LFI's allies. In the 6^th constituency of Loire-Atlantlique, Alain Hunault is holding his ground against Green candidate Jean-Claude Raux, the front-runner, to block "the blocs of extremes."

• Continuing to run in the hope of favorable vote transfers

Can you be third and still be the favorite? Some LR candidates justified their decision to stay in the race by electoral calculations: They claim to benefit from a vote transfers that they believe will be greater than that of the NFP candidate. This includes Valérie Simonet in the 1^st constituency of Creuse, who is banking on the carryover of votes from Renaissance. There's also Romain Lefebvre, in the 2^nd constituency of Allier, who is hoping for a carryover of those from the MoDem. In the 7^th constituency of Oise, incumbent MP Maxime Minot said that "the high proportion of right-wing votes in [this] territory leaves no chance for the [Nouveau] Front Populaire candidate."

• Blocking François Hollande

In an atypical configuration, incumbent LR lawmaker Francis Dubois has decided to continue his candidacy in the second round in the 1^st constituency of Corrèze, despite his third-place finish. He said it was not a question of blocking the RN, which finished second, but rather former French president: "We're the only right-wing party capable of beating François Hollande. Voting Pouget [RN] means getting François Hollande elected," he argued.