Key events
Gabriel Attal, the French prime minister and a Macron ally, has called for blocking the far right from getting a majority.
“Everything separates me from France Unbowed,” he said, noting however that the hard left party is not in a position to get a majority while the far right is in a situation where it could be in a position to govern.
.@GabrielAttal appelle au “barrage”, même avec un bulletin LFI : “Tout me sépare de la France insoumise, mais elle n’est pas en situation d’avoir une majorité absolue : en revanche, l’extrême droite est en situation de gouverner le pays” #le710Inter pic.twitter.com/KST7mT08Qy
— France Inter (@franceinter) July 3, 2024
François Hollande, a former French president from the socialist party, has said that the New Popular Front has allowed to “rebalance” the left.
🔴 Nouveau Front populaire ➡️ “L’union qui s’est faite a permis de rééquilibrer la gauche ”, se réjouit François Hollande. pic.twitter.com/H2vRwRG8rv
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) July 3, 2024
221 candidates withdraw from French election
Yesterday at 6pm, candidates in France faced a deadline to register for Sunday’s second round of legislative elections.
Amid pressure for a republican front to limit the success of the far right, many candidates candidates withdrew for races.
According to Le Monde’s latest count this morning, 221 candidates have withdrawn from races since Sunday’s first round of elections.
By this morning, according to the newspaper, 94 three-way races are still expected to take place, and one four-way race.
Welcome to the blog
Good morning and welcome back to the Europe blog.
Today we will be focusing on the latest in France, ahead of Sunday’s second round of elections.
Stay tuned and send your comments to lili.bayer@theguardian.com.