The second round of legislative elections in France, held this Sunday (7), had surprising results. The left-wing coalition New Popular Front (NFP) was the winner of the election, as the group to obtain the most seats in the National Assembly, 180 in total.
In second place was President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist coalition, with 159 seats. Finally, Marine Le Pen’s right-wing nationalist National Rally (RN), which in some polls had appeared to have a chance of obtaining an absolute majority in the house (289 seats), only reached 142.
The left and center managed to curb the rise of RN through a strategy after the party received the most votes in the first round, held the previous Sunday (30).
In a period of approximately 48 hours, 224 candidates from the two political blocs who had little chance of winning in the second round withdrew their candidacies, thus encouraging polarization in the dispute for seats with RN.
In France, unlike what happens in majoritarian elections in Brazil, the second round of legislative elections is not necessarily contested by just two candidates.
In the first round, the candidate who obtains an absolute majority of valid votes and a total of more than 25% of the registered electorate in a district is directly elected. In the first round, 76 of the 577 seats in the French National Assembly were defined.
If no candidate reaches the established threshold, a second round is held, bringing together the two candidates with the most votes in the second round, plus those who received a total of more than 12.5% of registered voters.
This means that several candidates can participate in the second round in the same electoral district. According to a survey by the newspaper Le Monde, before the withdrawal of candidates by the left and the center, 190 of the second round disputes would be between two candidates, 306 between three candidates and five between four candidates.
After the mass withdrawal, the number of duels rose to 409, which made it easier for candidates from the left and center to win, given the rejection of the nationalist right by a large part of the French electorate.
A survey by the Elabe Institute conducted shortly after the first round showed that the RN could obtain up to 295 seats in the National Assembly, that is, an absolute majority in the house. With the strategy of the left and center, it only managed to obtain 142 seats, even increasing its share of the total votes from 33% to 37%.
The maneuver left the French Parliament without any group with an absolute majority, which resulted in a political impasse with no prospect of a solution yet.
#withdrawal #left #center #candidates #prevented #winning #France