When Emmanuel Macron first ascended to the French presidency in 2017, he was hailed as the man who could see off the hard right. His re-election in 2022 was taken as further proof that the ‘liberal’ centre could hold – that the ‘leprosy’ of populism, as Macron himself described it, could be contained by his technocratic centrism. Even just three weeks ago, when he dissolved the National Assembly and called snap legislative elections, following the right-wing National Rally (RN)’s thumping victory in the EU elections, Macron and his allies assumed that the populist wave would quickly peter out. Voters would ‘see sense’, they believed, and rally back around the supposedly sensible centre.
It’s France, elections are never “over”
France election results: More than 150 candidates pull out of race to block hard-Right win
More than 150 candidates have withdrawn ahead of France’s second round of elections on Sunday in a bid to block a hard-Right win.
Candidates from Emmanuel Macron’s party and the hard-Left announced they had pulled out on Monday afternoon, avoiding the potential for them to eat into each other’s vote share.
