French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire Shuns Far-Left Support

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire ruled out supporting a far-left France Unbowed (LFI) candidate to stop a far-right National Rally (RN) candidate. The RN achieved historic gains in the parliamentary election. Le Maire emphasized the danger posed by LFI and preferred other leftwing parties over LFI.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Monday ruled out calling on voters to choose a far-left candidate from the France Unbowed (LFI) party if that was the only realistic option to stop a candidate from the far-right National Rally (RN) party. The RN scored historic gains to win the first round of France's parliamentary election, but whether it can reach an absolute majority in the National Assembly will depend on days of alliance-building before next week's run-off vote.

Leaders from the left and Macron's centrist bloc said the would withdraw their own candidates in districts where another candidate was better placed to beat the far right. "LFI is a danger for the nation", Le Maire told France Inter radio, adding that while he'd encourage voters to pick candidates from other leftwing parties in places where a centrist candidate pulled out of the race, he'd 'never' call for voting LFI.

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