French President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance Party will not field candidates in constituencies where they have little chance of winning, but will encourage its supporters to vote for other centrists, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal told broadcaster RTL on Monday.
“There are certain constituencies where we know our candidates are not in the best position to prevent a victory for the extremists,” Attal said. Renaissance would instead support other candidates, he said.
Attal said 65 of the 577 constituencies fell in this category.
Responding to a surge in support for the right-wing National Rally led by Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen in the European Parliament elections earlier this month, Macron declared that snap elections for the National Assembly would be held in two rounds on June 30 and July 7.
Voting for the National Assembly is done by simple majority, with at least the two best candidates advancing to the second round if no one obtains a clear majority in the first round.
Analysts believe that the voting format could play to Macron’s advantage over the voting system in the European elections, which is based on proportional representation.
Both the left-wing alliance New Popular Front, to which La France Insoumise belongs, described by Macron as extremist, and the National Rally, would be catastrophic if they were in government, Attal told RTL.
