French President Emmanuel Macron’s coalition of “centrists” reportedly conspired with the far-left New Popular Front (NFP) to prevent Marine Le Pen’s populist National Rally party from taking control of Parliament on Sunday. It was a surprising result after Le Pen’s party swept the floor in the first set of elections and was seemingly poised to secure a majority, and U.S. Republicans should heed the reminder that no election is safe from partisan tricks, even when the odds — and voter confidence — seem to be in your favor.
During the first round of voting for the National Assembly on June 30, Le Pen’s National Rally party performed better than Macron’s Renew party and the NFP, emerging as “the clear winner” based on “the first round of voting,” according to EuroNews. Still, no party had met the 289-seat threshold to be declared the majority.
A second round of voting to fill 501 of the 577 seats for the National Assembly was scheduled for Sunday, according to EuroNews. Ultimately, the socialist NFP won 183 seats, “making it the largest group in the 577-seat parliament,” CNN reported. Macron’s party won 163 seats and Le Pen’s party won 143 seats.
As EuroNews explained, “In the frantic week between the two rounds, more than 200 centrist and left-wing candidates pulled out of races to boost the chances of their moderate rivals and try to keep National Rally candidates from winning.”
“Final pre-election polls suggest that tactic may have diminished the far right’s chances of an
