Macron camp divided as far right creeps closer to power

Rival French parties scramble to build an alliance to prevent National Rally from winning outright in the second round of France's legislative election on Sunday

- Jabed Ahmed

French president Emmanual Macron’s allies are divided as they attempt to prevent a landslide victory by the far right. Gabriel Attal, the prime minister under Mr Macron’s centrist coalition, urged party candidates to drop out of races where they were in third place behind left-wing alliance the New Popular Front (NFP) and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN).

Meanwhile, finance minister Bruno Le Maire ruled out asking voters to choose a far-left candidate from the France Unbowed (LFI) party – a member of the NFP coalition. Mr Macron has found himself caught in the crossfire as he proposed that voters rally behind a “broad alliance” of republican and democratic candidates for the second round in order to prevent a far-right victory.

The mixed signals from Mr Macron’s allies come as they attempt to stave off a resurgence of the far right, which made historic gains in the first round of France’s parliamentary election. RN and its allies won 33 per cent of the vote, followed by a left-wing bloc with 28 per cent and Mr Macron’s centrists with just 20 per cent. This was a huge setback for Mr Macron, who called the snap election after his party suffered a crushing defeat by Ms Le Pen’s party in the European parliament elections last month.